Bermuda's boys received a major commitment yesterday from the men of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity in Bermuda.

The fraternity has pledged to match 50 boys with mentors in partnership with Bermuda Big Brothers & Big Sisters (BB&BS) and has donated $5,000 toward the cause.

"This is the most significant commitment in the 23 year history of our charity," said BB&BS president Lisa Webb. "If we meet this goal it will be our most successful recruitment ever."

Ms Webb said BB&BS currently has 72 children on its waiting list for big brothers and sisters - 60 of which are little boys.

"We are very excited about this partnership and what it will mean to the more than 50 boys who are currently waiting to be matched through our programme," she said."Some of these children have been waiting for two or three years and will now finally realise their dream of being matched with a Big Brother."

And the men who are making it happen are part of a fraternity founded in 1906 at Cornell University that has included among its members Martin Luther King Jr., Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and Olympian Jesse Owens.

The Bermuda chapter includes architects, attorneys, accountants, bankers, dentists, doctors, educators, entrepreneurs, politicians and clergymen.

Bermuda president Craig Marchbanks said Bermuda has 36 active Alpha members and 21 financial members who it will draw upon in an effort to meet its goal to BB&BS.

Bermuda's Alpha Phi Alpha chapter has now become the first international chapter of the fraternity to follow the path of its brothers in the United States who have been partnering with Big Brothers & Big Sisters of America since 1991.

US chapter president Harry Johnson said the fraternity believes that reaching out to young boys is the key to developing young leaders.

"We must reach back and grab young men and bring them forward," he said yesterday as the chapter signed a memorandum of understanding with BB&BS.

Alpha Phi Alpha was the first intercollegiate Greek letter fraternity established for black university students.

Mr. Johnson said members of Alpha Phi Alpha went on to form many organisations dedicated to the betterment of society including the United Negro College Fund, the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP), the Urban League and the Congressional Black Caucus.

The fraternity has 175,000 members worldwide.

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