Life has a way of making paths cross just when they are meant to, and this was one of those times. 



Carey ‘s life was changed forever when his father passed away when he was 8 years old. This event caused many changes in Carey’s world, including how he behaved, how he interacted with males, and the other effects of losing a parent at such a significant age, causes. 

His mother identified that Carey was missing that male role model and support on a one to one basis, and was struggling with his emotions. This was one of the reasons his mother and his school applied for him to have a School Based Mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters. 

At around this time Marcel decided he would like to become part of the BBBS team as a School Based Mentor and give his time for one hour every week to hang out with and support a young person. 

So in 2016, a match was made between Carey and Marcel at school and their journey started as Big and Little. 

Over the next three years they slowly but steadily developed a great friendship and did many things each week with their hour together. This included board games, painting, kicking a ball, puzzles and they even built and painted a skate ramp and a bookshelf for Carey to have at his home. 

Marcel and Carey built such a good connection, that in 2019, Marcel asked if Carey and his mother would support the match changing to a community based one, so they could expand activities and participate in events that BBBS organised. 

All agreed, and they have gone on to learn from each other and tried new things such as Carey learning to play tennis, kayaking for the first time and Marcel being taught by Carey how to skateboard so they can do this together. Carey also got to see his first Giants basketball game. 

Marcel said that when he first met Carey he was reserved and apprehensive, but over the years he has become more confident, has gained more social skills, is more expressive about his feelings and he is keen to try new things that take him out of his comfort zone. He now sees a lot more smiles and laughter especially when they share jokes with each other. 

Carey says spending time with Marcel is the highlight of his week, and he feels he is more able to manage his emotions, build better friendships at school and he is doing better with his schoolwork. Carey also says that he gets less angry since he began spending time with Marcel. He has learnt so many things from Marcel and they have a really good time. 

Carey is always excited about his sessions with Marcel and is ready an hour before hand. Carey’s mother has seen a difference in her son, he comes home buzzing and telling her all about what they have done. Carey has thrived having Marcel in his life, sharing his time and knowledge. 

So many would say ‘What difference does one hour make’? 

The simple answer is - to a young person facing adversity, it is EVERYTHING.