BY KATIE VICK
FOR THE OBSERVER
LEE COUNTY —The Best Buddies will host The Friendship Walk on Saturday, April 13, from 10:30 a.m. to 1 pm. at Dinius Park in Opelika.
The Best Buddies program is a resource that partners participants with special needs with a buddy to grow alongside and build a relationship with. The Best Buddies Friendship Walk is one of the fundraisers that help support the organization’s mission to prepare its participants to live independently, acquire a job that aligns with their passion and other important opportunities.
“We’ve got food, games, a DJ — it always turns into a dance party — and different activities,” said Grace Anne Maughan, director of mission advancement. “It’s more of a festival feel. It is called a walk for a reason, but it’s very inclusive. So, it’s just a few laps around the park.”
“It’s completely free for people to attend. We just like for them to register on our website, so we have an idea of what to expect,” said Maughan.
Maughan encourages those who want to participate in the fundraiser to talk to friends or family and create a team. To register and create a team visit https://www.bestbuddiesfriendshipwalk.org/auburn.
“If they fundraise $50 on their page, they get this year’s walk t-shirt,” she said. “Our chapters really bring in a lot of the money, especially Auburn and Alabama.”
“We would really love for it to be a more broad community walk so we encourage people to create teams and come together, with their friends, family members and co-workers,” said Anne Motley, senior program manager for national expansion. “We’re excited to see where we can take this and how many programs Best Buddies offers [that] we can bring to our state and continue to grow.”
Motley explained the Best Buddies Friendship program provides buddies in both K-12 settings and adulthood.
“We love socialization. We love the broad span of socialization and what it can bring to lives, [both] with and without disabilities,” she said.
“We really try to find companies who want to work with us and find those great dream jobs for participants, and then inclusive living is just like our friendship program, but put it in an independent living environment with friends,” Maughan added.
“The mission is huge and will be a great addition to spread throughout Alabama because it really just creates a social opportunity for our friends with intellectual or developmental disabilities who may not always have that opportunity, and it creates new friendships that just might not happen organically.”