Big Brother Shows His Worth

"I've always felt that you have to learn how to be a dad, and if you don't have a good example, you don't learn how to be a good one," he says of why he became a Big Brother. Worth describes his own father as "extremely supportive, very positive and very wise."

Worth's first Little Brother was Quincy, a 13-year-old from a single-parent home. Worth vividly recalls the day the two first met.

"We went to the McDonald's out in Middletown and had a sundae," he says. "It was awkward, but we got along fabulously. It was as though he was my biological little brother."

Over the next few years, Worth taught Quincy such things as how to take photographs and how to build a workbench. Along the way, they also built a deep bond with one another. Eight years after they met, Quincy had become such a big part of Worth's life that he wanted his Little Brother to be the best man in his wedding.

Quincy, however, had to refuse. The ceremony was the same day he graduated from Centre College in Danville, Ky. Pride evident in his voice, Worth relishes telling that story. At age 22, Quincy now works for Fifth Third Bank. The two men remain close friends. With Quincy grown, Worth teases that he "swapped him out and got a newer model"-Josh Rice, now 13.

"Im really proud of my son and what they're doing at Big Brothers," says Josh's mother, Debbie Inman.

Worth has big plans for his current Little Brother.

"We're going to do some model rocketry," he says.

They've also already built up a store of good memories.

"We've gone to U of L football games and played on the computer," Worth says. "We go to Big Brothers-sponsored events like camping trips and hayrides. It's a lot of fun. I wouldn't trade this."

In 1997 Worth's commitment was formally rewarded when he was named Big Brother of the Year by Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Kentuckiana.

"Oh yeah, I'm a big shot," Worth wisecracks when asked about the honor. But then he turns serious.

"It's hard for me to explain how important this program is to me. It is probably the only organization where an adult can actually see, experience and feel the thrill and the satisfaction of watching a boy become a man."

Hundreds of children are on the waiting list for both Big Brothers and Big Sisters, Worth says.

"When they find out their Big Brother or Sister is coming over some of these kids will go and sit by the window and wait for hours. It's a huge thing for them," he says.

In spite of his regard for the program, Worth is bothered that such organizations must exist. "It chaps me that somebody should be told it's a good thing to keep kids off the street and out of jail," he explains.

The reward for helping a young person succeed is not any formal honor, Worth says, but the joy one gets from watching the child grow up.

Worth's goal is to have his Little Brothers someday become Big Brothers themselves. "And they will," he asserts.

"I'd like to think they had a good example on what you're supposed to do when you're a grown-up," he adds. "I'd like to think they learned the value of honesty and what it means to make a commitment.

"I think you need to take a little time to make things better. One of my dad's favorite lines is: 'You always make time for what's important to you.'

"Volunteering is an important part of my life," adds Worth, who also recently donated bone marrow to a stranger.

He and his bride, Celeste, received "some swell wedding gifts" from the grateful woman, who, along with her husband, raises llamas in Montana.

Worth is already planning a visit.

Before moving to New Albany, Ind., this year, freelance writer Linda Romine worked as an editor at the Memphis Business Journal. She also has been a music critic at the Mesa Tribune in Arizona and is the author of several travel guides.