Fatherless boys before Christmas gifts

December 22, 2010

"It's not all about us!" said Flight Centre when they gave up individual Christmas gifts in favour of donating $6000 to Big Buddy - the charity working with fatherless boys.

The gift will be used by Big Buddy to fund an annual Big Day Out for the mentors and their Little Buddies In February; to recruit mentors in the North Shore area and to help send two mentors and boys on Outbound Bound adventure challenges.

“The spirit of Christmas is alive and well in New Zealand business," says Big Buddy CEO Richard Aston. "I am very humbled that the staff of the Flight Centre chose to give their gifts to us. Our work isn't always easy but gifts of this nature give us great hope and optimism. Makes us feel like we're all this together."

Flight Centre spokesperson Maree Hansen says donating the money to such a worthy cause warmed everyone’s hearts. "Much better than sending naff presents that staff would never use and that would sit in their bottom draws all year!"

The donation is additional to the annual financial and travel contributions from Flight Centre, as their chosen charitable partner.

Big Buddy is a non-profit organisation that matches volunteer male mentors from the community with boys aged 7-12 who have no father or other significant male role models in their lives.

“It’s a simple philosophy but profound in its reach,” says Richard Aston, “We believe boys need good men in their lives to learn how become good men themselves. Mothers do a courageous job raising boys on their own but the one thing they can’t do is model maleness. We see our role as simply filling that male need by giving boys regular contact with a good bloke. They will explore the world together and do ordinary things like walks on the beach, informal sport, fishing, or simply fixing a car.”

Since 1997 Big Buddy has matched hundreds of fatherless boys with carefully screened mentors. With the generosity of people like the Flight Centre, Big Buddy will continue to provide this much needed service into the future.

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