North Shore Volunteer of the Year Emma Cocking tells North Shore Living about her love of helping the community.
Willoughby local Emma Cocking, has been named the North Shore Volunteer of the Year for her work with Gig Buddies at the recent NSW Volunteer of the Year Awards, run by The Centre for Volunteering.
Gig Buddies pairs participants with mild to moderate disabilities with volunteers who have mutual interests or live close to each other. They believe that people with learning disabilities have the right to stay up late, meet new people, go to events and have some fun.
Emma, 23, was paired with Rae about two-and-a-half years ago. Gig Buddies takes time finding a good match it took them two months to match Rae and Emma. The application involves completing a questionnaire with your age, the age or gender you would like your buddy to be, and things that you’re interested in.
The 2021 COVID-19 restrictions posed a few challenges for Emma and Rae getting together.
“We were pretty lucky that we were paired in early 2021,” Emma says. “So we got to sneak in a couple of catch ups in person. In lockdown, we walked together and we caught up on Zoom and did some drawing together.”
Rae and Emma now get together in person every month. They share a love of musicals and have seen Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and Beauty and the Beast. Or they might meet for brunch or a picnic, or they might go and see one of Rae’s films.
“She’s really into making short films and has starred in a couple. So I’ve gone to some. We’ve also played mini-golf and we went to a comedy show last year.”
Emma has always loved getting involved with her community and completed her Duke of Edinburgh Award and coached local netball teams growing up.
She completed a Bachelor of Science at university, thinking she might work in the research field, but had a change of direction and is now in her second year of medicine.
“I love being with people so much that I got quite lonely in the lab by myself!” Emma says. “So I (decided) that I definitely needed to combine the science side with the people side’.”
Unfortunately, Emma was unable to attend the recent Volunteer of the Year Awards ceremony but Rae stepped in for her.
“It’s quite nice that Rae was able to accept the award on my behalf. I heard she got to stand up and do a little speech, which she did really well,” Emma says.
Emma speaks highly of the Gig Buddies community. “It has been so rewarding for me to be Rae’s buddy and also to attend Gig Buddies events and meet many wonderful people. The team at Gig Buddies are so supportive, I would really recommend anyone to sign up,” Emma says.
If you are interested in being a Gig Buddy – or being paired with one – contact visit gigbuddiessydney.org.