Buddy celebrations!

The Dunedin Buddy Programme ended on a high note for 2022 with the last outing of the year at the Edgar Centre in December. The children and their adult buddies had a lot of fun with this hilarious celebration. There was Christmas music, delicious food and drinks as well as a myriad of activities. Everyone enjoyed being together celebrating another Buddy year.

Craft activities included: decorating a personalised mug with permanent markers; making their own gratitude journals or notebooks; snowman themed hot chocolate kits with rock candy; and Christmas cracker-making with yummy chocolates inside. Everyone enjoyed bringing out their creative side making these holiday themed items.

“We also had giant games of Jenga and Pick-up Sticks which had us all engaged and laughing. The huge bouncy castle was popular, plus we had ten Zorbs (pictured) for adults and young buddies to enjoy while demonstrating how well they could all bounce off each other! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the games,” explained Sam, Dunedin Buddy Coordinator.

Sam continued, “heaps of fun was had, and we all had polaroids taken together in Christmas themed accessories to mark the occasion – it’s our Buddy tradition! Our party was very active and jam-packed with fun. It was certainly a fantastic way to celebrate a successful and fun year of Buddying.”

The Oamaru Buddy Programme celebrated their end of year with a fantastic excursion to McKerrow’s pond in December. North Otago Buddy Coordinator Christine organised the event, helping young buddies and adult buddies to meet each other while enjoying boating and a bbq lunch.

The Buddy Programme matches children with carefully selected and trained adult volunteers in a well-supported mentoring relationship. Adults would normally meet their young buddies once a week for a couple of hours, doing low or no cost activities. “We have had a lot of success,” Christine said “Lives have been transformed.”

Our award winning Buddy Programme is 100% funded through donations and grants. If you would like to support this programme, please use the donation form at the end of the magazine.

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