This week Big Buddy celebrates an incredible milestone of 1,000 matches of boys whose dads are absent, with good guys from the community, forming long-standing supportive relationships. We spoke to one of the first Big Buddy matches who met 22 years ago and are still in regular contact. In fact, they are family. Josh Goodwin …
Nadine – An extraordinary mother and grandmother It is almost impossible to get Nadine Ledingham to talk about herself. Even for a Mother’s Day story! With five grandchildren aged two, four, nine, 10 and 17, plus her 93-year-old father living with her, Nadine isn’t used to focusing on herself. The incredibly generous and loving grandmother …
Celebrating the wonderful mums and mother figures in our community! Read More »
Three years ago, broadcaster Roman Travers jumped in his landrover for his usual Saturday ritual, which involved cruising around Auckland with his little buddy Aidan next to him, as the seven-year-old chatted away. Roman, a host for MediaWorks station Magic Radio, was used to hearing about the kids at Aidan’s school or the latest cool …
Meet Roman Travers, Host of our Next Big Buddy Banter Read More »
To most people, Dave Curran would have his hands pretty full heading the operations and finances for The Vodafone Warriors, and being a husband and a father to three school-age children. But driving along one day mid 2019, he heard an ad on the radio that awoke a long held desire to help people in …
Still time to help a boy without a dad – even while running Vodafone Warriors Read More »
Staying connected is a topic on everyone’s minds right now. In the Big Buddy village, we’re giving a lot of thought to how Big and Little Buddies continue to make meaningful connections with each other over the next few weeks. Luckily, our Big Buddies already have a wealth of ideas on how to maintain the …
Still showing up, spending time and coming back…from a distance! Read More »
Times are tough and New Zealand needs your help. You and your Big Buddy are the only available crime-fighting pair available. So it’s time to suit up as one of the world’s most formidable duos! But hang on a minute…you and your Big Buddy don’t have anything to wear! In fact, if your Big Buddy …
Building Estimator and Big Buddy, Jason Young, has been so inspired by three years of mentoring Little Buddy Raffael, that he’s decided to down tools and start teaching instead. Jason has been clocking on at the ITM building yards for 30 years, and the Christmas-New Year break has been the same most years – traditionally …
Big Buddy inspired to teach after three life-changing years of mentoring Read More »
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 »
One of our well known mentors shares the gradual journey from new dad to Big Buddy. Auckland’s Eugene Lowrie has been a committed role model for two different boys in the last three years. First, he was Big Buddy to young Sam, then when Sam and his mother moved down to the Waikato, Eugene took …
Through kind sponsorship, Big Buddies occasionally get to develop their own confidence on an Outward Bound course, at a fraction of the cost most people would pay. Recently, Big Buddies Eugene Lowrie and Terry Dawson were lucky enough to take up this offer in The Marlborough Sounds. Terry’s letter of thanks, below, shows us the …
Growing confidence through the spirit of adventure Read More »
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