This April marks 10 years of the Best Buddies Friendship Walk in Central Illinois. Best Buddies at ISU is celebrating 35 years of friendship with Illinois State University.
I was honored to sit down with Lauren Dry, Membership Coordinator for Best Buddies at ISU. Lauren is a senior majoring in Communication Sciences and Disorders, along with a Learning and Behavior Specialist (LBS) minor. She has been part of Best Buddies at ISU for 4 years, serving on the executive board for 3 years.
“Best Buddies is an extraordinary organization that provides an inclusive and welcoming community to individuals with and without disabilities. Our goal is to foster friendships between ISU students and individuals from our community with disabilities. We work towards this goal by hosting monthly socials and creating one-to-one buddy pairings.” Lauren’s board position responsibility is to create the buddy pairings.
Best Buddies is an international nonprofit founded in 1989. The organization now has nearly 3,000 worldwide, impacting over 1.3 million people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Best Buddies at ISU is the local student chapter on campus.
Members of Best Buddies speak highly of the organization’s value. Lauren was drawn to the RSO because of the hands-on, interactive experience with community members who have IDDs. “This chapter of Best Buddies is truly a wonderful group of individuals that never fail to spark joy in my soul”.
Krya Craddock, a freshman Communication Sciences and Disorders student, says she joined to grow her love of working with the disabled community to help them feel safe and welcomed in a supportive space. Bella LaVette, a freshman Special Education LBS major, says, “I joined Best Buddies to continue making connections with my peers who have disabilities and to build lasting friendships!” Lindsay Mitchell, another freshman Special Education LBS major, described her reason for wanting to join and to grow friendships with a community that can be underrepresented and often overlooked. Other students also have past connections to hometown Best Buddies Chapters and Special Olympics.
Chapter members also praise the organization’s ability to create a safe space on campus solely focused on inclusion and fostering friendships. “I truly cannot put into words how powerful it is to walk into a room with such an unconditionally inclusive environment,” Lauren states. Kyra mentioned the importance of giving their buddies “a place where they can truly be themselves around the most supportive people.” Freshman, Special Education LBS major, Savannah Cunningham says her favorite part of Best Buddies is “to see the joy that everyone expresses at Best Buddies.”
The Best Buddies friendship walk will be held on April 18th at 1:30 pm. This is the leading event in the country supporting inclusion for people with IDD. Lauren has always enjoyed her time at these events as well as being a part of this organization and highly recommends joining them.
Thank you to Lauren for taking the time to spread the word on Best Buddies at ISU, as well as all the other members who submitted feedback about their experiences.
If you are interested in more information on Best Buddies at Illinois State, you can check out their Instagram at bb_at_isu. Please feel free to join the buddies for their monthly meetings on Tuesday from 5-7 pm in the Bone Student Center. The date changes each month, but the updated schedule can always be found on the instagram. Optional social events are held on Saturdays roughly once a month as well.