It was recently announced by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut that former Suffield resident Lisa Bonner has won the organization’s Victoria L. Soto Memorial Award for 2022. The honor was named for Victoria Soto, who died heroically in 2012 in an attempt to save the lives of her students during the shooting incident at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Soto was a mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters when she was an undergraduate education student at Eastern Connecticut State University. Bonner’s award was officially presented at the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Year Awards event, held at the Mark Twain House & Museum in Hartford on May 19. Bonner is the Go-To Marketing Director at Evernorth, a division of CIGNA. She’s also a veteran Big Sister (mentor) in the site-based mentoring program Big Brothers Big Sisters manages at the CIGNA campus in Bloomfield.
Award-winning Big Sister mentor Lisa Bonner, right, is pictured with one of her mentees, Adeyinka, who was celebrating her birthday in a Big Brothers Big Sisters event at CIGNA in Bloomfield.
“The award isn’t just about me,” Bonner said. “Winning it is a team effort. Adeyinka, Tianna and Dionna were with me all the way on this.” Adeyinka is one of Bonner’s Little Sisters (mentees) in the site-based mentoring program at CIGNA. Tianna and Dionna – all students at Hartford’s Annie Fisher School – are also mentees. Learn more at: www.ctbigs.org.