As a single mom with two young children, Elisa Kilbourne found it hard to find a balance to give her daughter and son their “own time.”
Western employee Elisa Kilbourne is definitely a proud mom, with her daughter Kaitlyn Bowley earning a $34,000 scholarship through the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of London, a United Way funded agency.
Flash forward a dozen years and, thanks to the United Way’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters program in London, things couldn’t be better for the Department of Philosophy administrative assistant.
Not only is her daughter, Kaitlyn Bowley, a third-year French student at King’s University College, she also earned a $34,000 scholarship thanks to the United Way-funded agency.
It was in high school that Bowley wrote an essay, as a Little Sister, explaining her ambitions and goals and what she would do if she were to receive the scholarship – which included a six-year (summers) paid internship at a YMCA-affiliated program, plus $4,000 per year (four-year degree) for tuition.
Just before she was to start Grade 11, they got the news Bowley was one of 30 young Canadians to receive the scholarship.
“I remember it so distinctly,” Kilbourne says. “I was working over in the Registrar’s Office at the time and I got a call and the lady said ‘Just thought I’d call to share some good news.’ And at that moment I went quiet and the tears were rolling down my face. The lady kept asking me if I was okay and I would just say ‘uh-huh.'”
For the first year of her internship, Bowley worked at Camp Queen Elizabeth in Georgian Bay Islands National Park, with the last three years part of the YMCA Day Camps in London. With plans to enter Teacher’s College upon graduation, Bowley looks back on her time in Big Sisters with much appreciation.
“The first time you meet the person there is that nervousness, of course, but it’s also exciting to try something new and meet someone new,” she says, who at 20 is still great friends with her Big Sister, Kim. In fact, she and her mom helped plan her wedding last year.
“At first it was the activities that got your attention but then once I got that connection, I could not care less if we sat in the car all day and just talked. We matched really well. I think they did a great job with Kim.”
For Kilbourne, it’s the comfort in knowing her daughter was benefiting from the program that she appreciated.
“There is a bit of relief because you want to know that things are normal for your kids outside a difficult home situation; you want to know that they’re doing okay,” she says. “Kim and I connected, and we’d talk. There is a lot of trust needed as well and we’ve always had that.”
With scholarship in hand, Bowley adds it has made her time at King’s much easier than initially anticipated.
“It means I won’t be paying off loans when I graduate,” laughs Bowley, who has plans to return the kindness she received by becoming a Big Sister. “It’s nice to not have to sit here and worry about money. I can just focus on school.”
Kilbourne admits the family has had its hardships, but it makes the fact her daughter earned the scholarship even better.
“That’s the beauty of the United Way, it’s helping keep programs like this open,” she says, staring at her daughter with a beaming smile. “It was a beautiful essay she wrote and I always told her she deserved this.”
“She’s a real proud mom,” adds Bowley, smiling back.
To learn more about Western’s United Way campaign visit https://unitedway.uwo.ca/