Big and Little Brother from the Jewish Big Brother Big Sister program in Ukraine visit Newton South High’s AP Russian language class

Newton-based Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters (JBBBS) hosted a Big and Little Brother from the sister city of Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, who visited for Hanukkah. Above from left, Tanya Kaplunskaya, the JBBBS Ukraine program coordinator, Big Brother Maxim Kasiyanov (22) and Little Brother Nikita Lazarev (12) visited an AP Russian language class at Newton South High School on Thursday morning to discuss with students their life and experiences in the Ukraine. Nikita was born with special needs and adopted at the age of 3.5 to a Jewish family in Dnepropetrovsk and Maxim provides 1:1 mentoring to him through the The Starshi Brat/Sharshaya Sistra Program in the Ukraine, in which they are both deeply involved. The program was launched to provide a framework for volunteerism in the country, which was previously nonexistent.