Big Brothers Big Sisters of Ajax Pickering

The Big Brother Association of Ajax-Pickering held its first meeting on June 12, 1973. This meeting was convened by the Social Planning Council of Ajax-Pickering, and was an attempt to respond to needs identified by several community agencies, most notable being the Ontario County Public Health Unit.

The June 12th meeting brought together a group of business and professional men to form the Big Brothers Association of Ajax and Pickering. On November 15, 1973, the Big Brothers Association of Ajax-Pickering was incorporated and received Letters Patent establishing it as a corporate entity. Since that time, the agency continued to grow.

For over twenty years, the agency delivered the traditional Big Brothers program and then in 1996 the In-School Mentoring program was introduced. This new program would reach children in a new way, through the school system.

In July 2001 Big Brothers and Sisters of Canada and Big Sisters of Canada / Big Sisters of Ontario merged and became Big Brothers Big Sisters of Canada. All of the individual agencies across Canada were invited to affiliate with the same national organization and follow the same program standards. Big Brothers Association of Ajax-Pickering affiliated and became a member. Given that the agency was the only affiliated member in the community the Board of Directors applied to amend the name to Big Brothers and Sisters of Ajax-Pickering and in 2002 this became the official corporate name.

The Big Sister and Little Sister traditional one-to-one program became a core program offered to the community.

Big Brothers and Sisters of Ajax-Pickering continues to be a United Way agency.