Big Brothers Big Sisters of Island County announced Wednesday that due to a “growing financial burden associated with maintaining operations,” among other factors, the nonprofit will be closing on Sept. 30.

“It’s really heartbreaking to know that we’re no longer gonna be able to continue doing this, because I feel there’s a very big need in every community to have this type of organization available to kids,” Debbie Merritt, the secretary for the group’s board of directors, said.

Founded in 1999, the organization paired together “littles,” children ages 6-16, and “bigs,” adult volunteers at least 19 years old living and working in the county, in an effort to support local youth through mentorship. The group was a part of a national Big Brothers Big Sisters organization, which has been doing the same across the country since 1904.

The program also allowed high school students to volunteer as “bigs” for site-based mentorship once they turned 15, making for experience suitable for future college applications.

According to their website, kids who participated in Big Brother Big Sisters were 46% less likely to begin using illegal drugs, 27% less likely to begin using alcohol and 52% less likely to skip school. The program did not exclusively serve at-risk children — doors were open for everyone.

Local grants, sponsorships, donations, fundraisers and monthly financial contributions through a program called “matchmakers” is how the nonprofit received funding for the 26 years it remained open.

Closure became a real possibility for the organization around two years ago, Merritt explained. The economic aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to financial struggles, as did the fact that grants “dwindled significantly.” Since nonprofits usually cannot pay employees as well as businesses can, she added, diminishing funding made keeping Big Brothers Big Sisters adequately staffed another issue. Lacking a full-time executive director, in particular, made creating “new types of fundraisers” difficult as well.

“(Executive directors are) the ones that usually are meeting people face-to-face in the community and talking to them and letting them know what the agency’s in need of,” Merritt said.

Despite the group’s attempts to “reduce costs” wherever possible, “rising insurance premiums, administrative fees, and general operational expenses” created too “unsustainable” of a “financial gap,” as detailed in the press release. Ultimately, the board of directors decided closure was the “necessary course of action given the circumstances we face.”

Until then, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Island County officials hope to motivate other organizations to continue working with local youth by sharing what resources they can.