Among the shouts of excited bowlers and crash of the pins, Ball State University students helped their "buddies" bowl at Ball State University's Best Buddies Awards Ceremony/Bowling Night Wednesday night. As one man bowled a strike on his first try, the members erupted into applause, and the man high-fived his college buddy.
Best Buddies, a non-profit international organization founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver in 1989, matches up volunteers with people who have intellectual disabilities to create mutually-rewarding friendships.
Best Buddies operates six main programs - middle school, high school, college, citizens, e-buddies and jobs - which included more than 250,000 people worldwide this year.
The Ball State students are considered "college buddies," and the adults with intellectual disabilities are considered "buddies."
The Ball State Best Buddies chapter was formed last spring and is one of 15 collegiate Best Buddies programs. Jennifer Nucciarone, Indiana's Best Buddies College Program Manager, attended the Awards Ceremony/Bowling Night, and said Ball State had "been an exceptional chapter this year." Nucciarone said the chapter was even awarded the New Outstanding Chapter Award for "meeting commitments of Best Buddies and really living out the mission of Best Buddies."
The Ball State chapter has 37 members, 16 of which are Ball State undergraduate students. The other 21 members are adults with intellectual disabilities. Because of the fewer number of Ball State student volunteers, five adults with intellectual disabilities are not paired up with their own individual college buddy.
Ball State University's Best Buddies Director Kesley Hoover said a host site coordinator finds buddies for the program, although most of the Ball State buddies are from Hillcroft, a group that provides services for individuals with disabilities and their families.
Buddies do not attend school. While all buddies have an intellectual disability of some sort, many also have physical disabilities. The deaf and blind are also welcome in Best Buddies.
Hoover said the organization also included non-verbal buddies, which can make it hard for them to communicate with their college buddies. However, college buddies and non-verbal buddies have "made some of the best pairs," she said.
Associate members are college buddies with no buddy, either by choice or lack in number of buddies, Hoover said; however, there are none of these members at Ball State.
At the beginning of the school year, Best Buddies' volunteers fill out a survey, which helps pair college buddies to disabled buddies who have similar interests. Throughout the year, the buddies meet up to participate in organized activities, such as watching movies or bowling.
Hoover said each pair was required to meet at least twice a month, although many college students visit their buddies every week because it is "such a stress reliever and brings great joy to the lives of everyone involved in the program."
Freshman and college buddy Hossley Partington joined Best Buddies last semester at the urging of a friend who had a rewarding experience with the program the previous year.
"As soon as I joined, I was glad that I had done it," Partington said. She hangs out at her disabled buddies' group home, where they will watch people make dinner and spend time together, she said.
"Sometimes she helps with the dinner, and we talk about it," Partington said. "I love just being with her and talking with her."
Partington said she and her buddy were very close. She knows her buddy loves McDonald's, for example, and that all the other buddies at the group homes are her friends.
Hoover said the local chapter was open to any undergraduate students, and she was always looking for more volunteers.
Partington said she loved being a buddy, if only for the reason that it allowed her to have a positive effect on someone's life.
"The buddies that we have do not have major contact with people outside their group homes or Isanogel [a Muncie residential day camp for children and adults with special needs]," Partington said. "So to have us come in and be a part of their lives makes them feel special. To see a smile on their faces makes every care in the world melt away and brings news light into your life."
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