From the heart of Cooee: Hope holds bridges of tomorrow
Long before Cooee began, Kris Buckham was already asking a simple question: ‘How can I do more?”
A question eventually led to Rock-ED, a music programme created with Childhope Asia Philippines way back 2009 when Kris still works with Deutsche Bank, using music and dance to connect with street children in Metro Manila. What started as Saturday mornings filled with music, dance, laughter and a small group of people willing to give a little more eventually grew into something much bigger. Local bands began participating, sharing musical talents and helping expand the initiative beyond its original circle. These gatherings offered children an opportunity to express themselves, and discover their creativity.
The most meaningful part of the story was never the recognition. It was the people, from the heart of Cooee. From being supported to supporting others became the game changer in once life.
On October 7, 2026, Kris returned to Childhope Asia Philippines together with Cooee’s Team for the Cooee Leadership Outreach: Heritage Walk + Childhope Programme. There were games, conversations, a feeding activity, and plenty of moments shared with the children.
Among those people, a familiar face caught his attention. Those young children who had once been part of Rock-ED were there too, now grown up and helping children who were once in the same position they had been.
Once, they were the ones being supported. Now, they were the ones showing up for someone else. It was the kind of full circle moment that quietly says more than any award ever could. Impact does not always reveal itself immediately. Sometimes, you only see it years later, when someone who once received an opportunity chooses to pass something forward.
The thinking that helped shape Cooee
Experiences like Rock-ED played an important part in the thinking that eventually led Kris to build Cooee. Living and working in the Philippines gave him a deeper appreciation for what he describes as the talent, heart, and depth of the Filipino. It made him think about what more could be done, and how that potential could be shared beyond the Philippines.
Cooee’s “Why” having an opportunity to be part of someone's transformation. One person. One community. One business at a time. Drives us in every single day, showcasing “This is why we do what we do.” That idea lingered to every part of Cooee today, not simply creating jobs, not simply building teams, rather the purpose of creating opportunities for people to grow, contribute, support one another, and become part of something that reaches beyond themselves.
As Kris has shared with Cooeemates: “Every single day we go to work, we’ve got an opportunity to have an impact on someone’s life.” Sometimes that impact happens through coaching a teammate. Sometimes it happens through a conversation with a colleague. Sometimes it happens when the work of a Cooeemate helps a partner business grow. And sometimes, it reaches a family or a community in ways we may never fully see.
At Cooee, we often talk about impact beginning internally. The environment we create around one another matters. The way teammates speak to each other matters. The way Team Leads coach matters. The way leaders show up matters. A difficult day at work can follow someone home. So can a good one.
Why does the everyday experience of work matter just as much as the result?
The goal is not to pretend that every day will be easy. It is to build an environment where people can still feel supported, challenged, connected, and proud of what they contributed. From there, the impact moves outward. To families. To local businesses. To the communities around us. And to the partners who depend on Cooee teams every day.
The same belief behind our partnerships
For us, partnership is more than delivering a process or filling a role. It is about creating something that works for both sides over time. When our partners grow, our teams grow with them. When Cooeemates develop, that experience strengthens the support they can give to the businesses they work with, transforming them through trust.
The value-aligned partnerships are the ones where people feel invested in the outcome and where success creates value beyond a single task. That is part of what makes the Childhope story so meaningful to us.
The original Rock-ED programme may have begun years ago, but its impact did not end when the sessions did. It continued through people. And years later, some of those same people are now helping someone else move forward. Still asking how we can do more
Cooee’s return to Childhope Asia Philippines is not simply about looking back. It is also about what comes next. As Kris shared following the outreach, this marks the beginning of a longer-term commitment from Cooee to be part of the continued care and transformation of underprivileged children in Metro Manila.
The setting may be different from where Rock-ED started, and Cooee itself has grown considerably since then. But the question remains the same: “How can we do more?” For our people. For our partners. For the communities around us. Because sometimes the greatest impact is not something you can measure immediately.
From the heart of Cooee, it is our hope that builds bridges to tomorrow. A hope that brings people together, opens doors to new possibilities, and inspires us to keep asking, “How can we do more?” As we continue to grow and change, we carry with us the same belief that started it all: that through trust, connection, and a shared purpose, we can create meaningful opportunities and make a difference in the lives of others.
Reference:
Comments