Anyone who saw some of our youngest Auckland Big Buddies on TV3’s The Project in September will know that younger men are stepping up to make a big difference in the lives of boys who don’t have a dad around. These men are at the lower end of the Millennial generation bracket, but we talked …
Wellington 30-somethings make great Big Buddies! Read More »
Ken Turner may have left the police force to study engineering like so many other men in his family, but he still fosters a strong care of duty towards others. Ken is now a Big Buddy mentor to 11-year-old ‘fatherless’ Wellington boy, Ollie. The impetus came when the ex-sergeant moved to Porirua – as a …
Kapiti local and mentor Pete Hobbs, 72, is testament to the more recent wave of thinking that suggests one should put the concept of retirement on the backburner and keep on keeping busy. Pete works full time as a painter-decorator and spends a few hours each week mentoring 9 year-old Sean Burkhalter. He says …
Pete’s wisdom of years perfect for mentoring Sean Read More »
While finding kind-hearted male mentors to improve the lives of boys whose fathers are not around is a beautifully simple proposition, staffing and operating such a charity in Auckland, Wellington and Waikato requires a great deal of thought and coordination. South and East Auckland is no exception – areas that collectively require at least 30 …
From teaching men’s anger management to finding mentors for boys Read More »
This May, Waikato boy Morgan Glover was sponsored by Go Rentals and Barworks to attend Outward Bound for a week. The 14 year-old Little Buddy trained hard to get match-fit for a course that is known to develop the very things that Big Buddies look to bring out in these boys: resilience and independence. Thanks …
Businesses help boy develop resilience and independence Read More »
A charity that finds good-hearted mentors to enhance the lives of 7-14-year-old fatherless boys is realising staff and expansion plans at an accelerated rate, thanks to a new business relationship model. Big Buddy has always received far more requests to find Big Buddies than there are available men. But the agency is planning to close …
Little Buddy Nicholas Perano and his Big Buddy, Colin Malcolm, haven’t even been matched for a year, but mum Penny Perano says she’s seeing positive, tangible differences in her ten-year-old already. Eleven months ago, the first Hamilton Buddy pair began spending Sunday mornings together. Colin says they’ve been doing anything from finding a quiet corner …
A national organisation that finds mentors for fatherless boys says that after 20 years in the business, they’re still looking for men with a kind heart rather than a saintly disposition. The message is vital for an increasingly busy Big Buddy, a charity that has just added a Hamilton post to its Auckland and Wellington …
August 2017 In 2002, disillusioned after many years in management and corporate IT, Richard Aston jumped ship at 50 to take up the reins of a fledgling social agency with the lofty vision of changing fatherless boys’ lives. Back then, Big Buddy was a paper-based social agency with five matches on its books. But Aston …
July 2017 When boys’ mentoring charity Big Buddy talks about finding positive male role models for fatherless 7 to 14-year-olds, they’re not asking for saints or sports stars to put their hands up. Although, anyone watching some of the Gallagher Chief’s best-known rugby players and five ‘Little Buddies’ at a training session last week would …