January 2006
Rich and Joel, Featured at Patriots Game
(Westboro)-Richard. A. Walega, Westboro, who volunteers as a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sister of Central Mass/Metrowest will be featured along with his Little Brother, Joel Ruiz, Worcester, as "match of the game" during the live broadcast of the Patriots game at Gillette Stadium Saturday Jan. 7 on radio station WCBN.
The pair will be introduced by Patriots nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who promotes mentoring in partnership with Bernie & Phyl's Furniture and the Mass Mentoring Partnership.
Walega was matched with his Little Brother two years ago. At the time, 12-year-old Joel was struggling in school. His Big Brother stepped in as an advocate, meeting with Joel's guidance counselor. Now Joel is getting mostly A's on his report card and planning to study health care or culinary arts at Worcester Vocational School.
Joel joined the high school freshman basketball team and his Big Brother got him involved in Worcester Babe Ruth baseball league.
"All he needed was a little push in the right direction," Walega said.
This past year Walega and Joel wanted to give back to Big Brothers Big Sisters so other children in the community could have a mentor. Together they rode in the Rodman Ride for kids and raised close to $1,500.00 for the agency.
The two of them are featured in the "Be a Champion for a Child," program which highlights the need for high-quality youth mentoring throughout Massachusetts.
Mass Mentoring Partnership ceo David Shapiro noted that the collaboration between Bernie & Phyl, WBCN and Wilfork, "will help us get the message out about the power of mentoring and bring more caring adults in the lives of our state's kids."