Father’s Day holds special meaning for Big Brother

Father’s Day has taken on special meaning for Jimmy Vereen of Mullins, even if his three children are grown and gone.

Vereen, 52, is not only a Big Brother, he’s the Pee Dee Area Big Brother Big Sister Association’s Volunteer of the Year.

He’s been a Big Brother for four years to Julian Small of Mullins. Julian, 12, is the youngest in a family of four.

Vereen is an attendance supervisor for the Marion County Board of Education. He grew up in a family of 11 children and said “it was like everybody in your family was taking care of you.”

Vereen said he decided to become a Big Brother because he wanted to give back to the community. Furthermore, his mother and father taught him from childhood to be humble and appreciative of “what you’ve got.”

“Julian was kind of quiet when I first got him,” said Vereen, an assistant Mullins High School football coach for 28 years and basketball assistant for nine years. “But the more he started trusting me, the more he started talking.”

Vereen said Julian loves going to Mullins High football and basketball games.

“He’s the water boy during the football games and really enjoys that,” Vereen said. “He also enjoys going to the basketball games, sitting on the bench with the team and helping anyway he can.”

Vereen hasn’t received many awards in his life, so it was extra special to him when he was named Volunteer of the Year on May 20.

“It was overwhelming,” he said. “Julian brought the award out and I accepted it on behalf of Marion County. You hear so many negative things about Marion County that it’s time something positive was heard.”

Carlisle Rogers is the longtime executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Pee Dee Area, which serves Darlington, Florence and Marion counties.

“Jimmy is an outstanding volunteer all the way around,” Rogers said. “He really brought his little brother out during the four years he’s been his Big Brother. He’s just a super guy.”

And Julian thinks he’s more than super.

“When we asked Julian why he thought Jimmy should be the Volunteer of the Year, he got real excited,” Rogers said. “Julian said, ‘Because he’s such a nice person who doesn’t get mad quick. He loves to volunteer and do stuff like that. He’s really a good person.’”

Julian replied to the question, “What is your Big Brother like? Is he cool, serious or can you joke around with him?” by saying: “Well, he’s all that, but the big thing is that we talk about stuff and he helps me understand what I should do and what I shouldn’t do. And he cares about what I do in school. He’s always asking me about it. He thinks it’s important because he wants me to try real hard.”

And when he was asked to describe Vereen physically, he said, “He’s not ugly, but he’s not what you would say pretty, either. I think I’d say he’s a handsome man. He’s medium size. Well, actually, he’s kind of large. He wears glasses and is a cool dresser. And he’s got big muscles because he works out all the time.”

Vereen has been lifting weights all his life. He was bench pressing 400 pounds until he got sick last year.

“Julian has come a long way,” Vereen said. “He’s kind of coming out of his shell. We do a lot of things together, but they always begin at Burger King. He likes the No. 1. It’s bigger than he is, but he eats all of it.”