The Big Brothers Big Sisters program will be phased out February 1, 2016, in Oneida, Herkimer, and Madison Counties.

Upstate Cerebral Palsy was administering the program. President and CEO Louis Tehan tells WKTV the decision wasn't easy to make. The Big Brothers Big Sisters program helped so many local children and adults.

"Great success stories. Kids that were with bigs for a long time, some of them ended up in their wedding parties. It went well beyond, you know, we had a lot of Utica College students and after they graduated and moved out of town they'd come back and still maintain a relationship with their littles," said Tehan.

Tehan goes on to say Upstate Cerebral Palsy was unsuccessful in finding another local organization to take over the program.

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