Meet Georgia Crutchley. Georgia lives in Balclutha and has volunteered as an Adult Buddy with the Family Works Buddy Programme for the last six months.
Georgia is completing a Bachelor of Human Services at Otago Polytechnic, and is looking forward to a career helping people in her community. Her Young Buddy is 9 year old Jane* from Balclutha. (*not her real name)
After just a few short months Georgia is already beginning to see the difference in her 9-year-old young buddy.
“We get together every Friday afternoon. We made a list of the things we like to do. We love to bake together and also do arts and crafts."
"One thing that we’ve aimed for is that she can make food for her family. Each week when we bake my Buddy will always take some home to her family.”
“It’s amazing knowing that by only spending two hours with my buddy, I’m making a difference in her life, no matter how big or small.”
“One change I have seen in my Buddy is that she is gaining more confidence. At the Christmas meet up with a group of Buddies I was worried that she was going to be too shy to interact with other kids. She ended up making a really good friend who she was hopefully going to be able to meet up with over the holidays.”
“I’m looking forward to continuing to volunteer in 2017, meeting weekly with my Young Buddy while I continue my studies.”
The Family Works Buddy Programme has a waiting list of about 50 children needing Buddies across Otago.
Dunedin Buddy Co-ordinator Marco Kleinlangevelsloo spoke about the Buddy programme on Dunedin Access Radio - listen to his interview here.
Click here to register your interest in becoming a volunteer with us.