Proud to make a positive difference

Hunter Campbell is helping to make a positive difference to boys who don’t have their father in their lives by supporting Big Buddy fundraising lunches.

Big Buddy is a charity that is all about encouraging confidence and resilience in the lives of boys without their dad around. They do this by recruiting and screening good guys from the community to spend a few hours with them every weekend, just doing simple things together like kicking a ball, walking the dog or going to the beach. The most important things a Big Buddy can do is show up, spend time and come back again.

Hunter Campbell Founding Partner Ken Webb says: “I had a friend pass away and saw firsthand the impact that growing up without their dad had on his two sons.

“About five years ago I heard about Big Buddy and the great work they are doing so we’ve been supporting them ever since.”

At Big Buddy’s fundraising lunch last month, one of the Little Buddy mums, Rosalind, told the heartbreaking story of her husband passing away when their son was just six years old. Although this loss will never leave them, she spoke of how her boy, Jimmy, has been matched with his Big Buddy, Eugene, for the past two years and what a positive difference this has made to both their lives.

It is estimated that there are more than 50,000 boys aged between 7 and 14 who live in solo parent families in New Zealand and that around 16% of these boys have no contact with their father.

Originally part of the Man Alive organisation, Big Buddy became a standalone registered charity in 2002 and since then has matched more than 900 boys with Big Buddies. Today Big Buddy operates out of Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga and Wellington. There are plans to expand into Christchurch next year.

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