"It's cool," said Ernestine Delorme, 10, who's been with her big buddy, Alice McLeod, for nearly 4 years.

For 12-year-old Curtis Inward-Jones, who's the only boy in his family, having a big buddy is like having a big brother in the family.

"It makes you feel happy because you don't have to stay around with a bunch of girls in your family," said Inward-Jones on Sunday.

The Big Buddies organization has been around since the early 1980s. The idea behind the program is to match children with adults who have similar interests.

"Most little buddies come from single-parent families and have siblings and that's why they've been put in the program. Their big buddy is someone just for them," said Marie Chenard, chairperson of the board.

There's always a big demand for big buddies. Right now there's a wait list of 10 boys each looking for a big buddy.

Anyone can sign up and be a volunteer as long as they are willing to commit to a child and spend time with them and agree to do a criminal records check.

"There's really no rules. We don't say you have to see each other every week. We're pretty flexible," said Sherri Childs, Big Buddies treasurer.

Individual buddies get together about once a week to do what ever they want.

All organization volunteers and children meet together once a month and do any number of activities like bowling, skating and skiing. This past Sunday the group planned to the ski club but they were unable to get ski rentals.

They ended up touring the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.

Big Buddies is currently 22 strong with nine buddy matches, plus board members.

"We also have a honorary big buddy who's older than the program requires, but she has FAS (Fetal Alcohol Syndrome)," said Chenard.

Big Buddies is a lot of fun," said Childs, who was involved in Big Sisters in the South.

"I hate golf but golfing with a seven-year-old is one of the best things I've ever done. It's just that interaction. It's amazing how much fun it is," Chenard added.