BBBS Regional Director Dawn Starostka
By Mary Alice Murphy
With a merger of the Big Brothers Big Sisters organizations of Northern New Mexico and Southwestern New Mexico, as of Jan. 1, 2015, the capacity of the new organization, called Big Brother Big Sisters Mountain Region, has grown, as they will share a single strategy in order to best serve the state's youth in 17 counties.
In a press release announcing the merger, Mountain Region Chief Executive Officer Andrea Fisher Maril said: "We believe this will benefit kids from both the northern and southwestern parts of the state. By centralizing financial and administrative services we’ll be able to match more kids in life-changing relationships with caring, committed, carefully screened mentors."
Doña Ana/Grant County Regional Director Dawn Starostka said she would be looking to strengthen and continue community relationships in the southwestern part of state, while overseeing the organization that, before the merger in October 2014, was named Nonprofit Agency of the Month by the Greater Las Cruces Chamber of Commerce.