Amanda Fisher is looking for 23 good men and women.

Fisher, the new coordinator of the South Whidbey Big Brother/Big Sister program, is looking for adults to pair with 23 South Whidbey students ages six to 14 who need an older person in their lives. And this is just for starters.

“Some of these kids have been waiting for several years to be paired with an adult,” Fisher said.

Fisher was hired this fall as the coordinator for the South Whidbey Big Brother/Big Sister Program replacing Jon Gabelein, who has gone into teaching. Gabelein started the program on South Whidbey and guided it through is first three years.

Matching adults and children in mentoring relationships is Fisher’s primary responsibility.

“The only prerequisite for the duty is the ability to provide support and friendship for about two hours a week,” she said.

Fisher’s duties include developing two —school and community — types of matches.

“The community matches are the toughest,” Fisher said. “Some of these kids have been waiting three years for a Big.”

Fisher worries about these kids because they are getting older as they wait.

“The window of childhood is so small,” she said. “Some of these kids are heading into junior high, lonely and with low self-esteem.”

Fisher says this makes them susceptible to peer pressure, something an older friend can help them avoid. For this reason, among others, she takes her job seriously.

Big Brother/Big Sister makes two types of matches. One is the community-type matches. The other is school matches and are made between South Whidbey High School students and younger children in the district. To date there are 41 matches in the schools.

Fisher expects to have 80 school matches by December and hopes to find a match for all the kids waiting.

Fisher is a graduate of Western Washington University and was coordinator for the BB/BS program in Bellingham for a year. The BB/BS program has been in Island County for five years. The first school match on South Whidbey was made in February 2001.