Best Buddies builds towards future through friendship

Sometimes in life it’s the small things, like having a best buddy, that make all the difference in the world.
That is what one group of students here at Georgia College & State University provides to a group of mentally disabled individuals.
Best Buddies is a non-profit organization that gives students the opportunity to develop a one-on-one friendship with an individual with intellectual disabilities. The group, founded in 1989 by a college student named Anthony K. Shriver, is internationally recognized and is made up of approximately 1,000 middle school, high school and college campuses across the country. GC&SU is one of 316 college campuses with the Best Buddies program.
“The goal of the Best Buddies program is to promote friendship with an individual with a disability and make a long-lasting impression on that person’s life,” said Dana Baxter, college buddy director. “Right now, we have 26 pairs of students paired up with a partner, 13 individuals from GC&SU and the others are volunteers from the Wilkinson and Baldwin County Service Center.”
Many of the student volunteers are majors in special education, teaching or nursing. If a student volunteer earns more than 200 hours of volunteer time, they can include that time on a transcript or a r?sum?. The interaction between the college student and the buddy instigates social interaction and relationships. Many times disabled individuals may be excluded from social opportunities that many enjoy in their everyday life. The group gets together to go bowling, eat ice cream, dance or simply play cards and shoot hoops in the Centennial Center.
“We have outings twice a month and we call our buddies on the phone, hang out, and it’s a great opportunity to build a lasting friendship,” said Ashley Holliday, activities director. “I wanted to do this to be involved in something and I do more than just volunteer, I have made a friend and made a difference in someone else’s life.”
The student volunteers were paired up with their buddy during an outing at the beginning of the year where students got to meet with some of the disabled individuals. Even though the year is well underway, interested volunteers are still very much welcome.
“If someone wants to volunteer they can contact the education department here at the school or through e-mail at bestbuddiesgcsu@yahoo.com. We can then sign you up through the Best Buddies organization,” Baxter said.
As the program continues to grow worldwide, the organization hopes to open offices in all 50 states by 2010, establish Best Buddies programs in 50 countries and have 500,000 participants worldwide. The group hopes one day to be able to make the Best Buddies program available and active in every community and in every school or college. Recently, the group has even started an e-Buddies activity that connects disabled individuals to technology through an on-line friendship program.
Most volunteer students said that the experience has taught them a lot about those with disabilities, and even more about what it means to be a friend.
If you would like more information on the Best Buddies organization, visit their Web site at www.BestBuddies.org.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Oct 31 2003. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry