ESCANABA -- Billy and Logan first met last August, but it seems like much longer, and at first glance, they may even seem like they're brothers.

“I love having him as my Big Brother,” said ‘Little Brother’, Logan Caron.

They were paired up by Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area.

“He's quiet,” said ‘Big Brother,’ Billy Morrow.  “He really reminded me of myself."

Many of the kids come from single-parent homes, and they need that positive adult influence.    

“We've been looking almost three to three-and-a-half years,” said Logan’s mom, Colleen Burnard.  “We’ve been looking for a Big Brother for him.  He’s a lot more outgoing than he was before, now that he's gotten to be out with Billy."

The surrogate siblings also take a weight off of parents' shoulders.

“Being disabled, I don't get to do a whole lot of things with him," Burnard said.

First and foremost, the mentors act as friends.

“Since I’ve been home a lot, I don't do much,” Caron said.  “I don't get out, and I don't meet a lot of people.  So this is one of the few opportunities I get, besides school, to meet people."

The trust that the kids put in their mentors also spreads to other areas of their lives.  They have better grades, better social skills, and learn to have a lot more self-confidence.

Volunteer opportunities with Big Brothers Big Sisters don't just end with this community-based program.  There are also several other volunteer opportunities like working with children of prisoners, corporate mentoring, or class-to-class volunteering.