Mark and his support worker Andrew connected over a mutual passion for sport and education.
“We’re both passionate about sport,” says Andrew. “He's a teacher and I have a background in education too. He’s just a good all-round guy.”
The pair originally became friends when Mark’s son and Andrew’s grandchildren swam together. Mark mentioned that he was searching for a support worker and asked Andrew: “How about you join up [Hireup] and I’ll employ you to drive me around places and help me out with stuff?”
“He was doing it already so I thought I’d just help him out a bit (by formalising it). That’s how the friendship continued,” says Mark.
“We do a fair bit [together]. He picks me up from school most days, takes me home, takes me shopping, to sporting events and to do odd jobs here and there. So yeah, wherever I need help, he’s always there,” says Mark.
Andrew’s philosophy has always been to ‘find a need and fill it’. “I’m older, but I’m trying to overcome the age thing. I feel pretty adventurous,” Andrew says laughing. “We've become very good mates, really. He’s also a world class Blind tennis player. I score so there’s no arguments over the points.”
The South Australian pair are both going on holidays with their families respectively but when they return they’ll be doing “whatever comes up,” says Mark. “Whether it’s work or something personal, we don’t just catch up through work [on shift], sometimes we’ll just go for coffee.”
