FSU Best Buddies recognized at International Conference

The Florida State University chapter of Best Buddies was presented with the 2009-2010 Outstanding Chapter Award at Best Buddies International’s 21st Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference. The Florida State chapter is among more than 400 Best Buddies college programs throughout the world and was selected from 62 outstanding chapter applicants.

Best Buddies is a nonprofit organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Anthony Shriver, son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Shriver, established the organization in 1989.

The FSU chapter partners with Tallahassee’s Gretchen Everhart School to raise awareness, host group activities and pair college students with Everhart students for friendship and companionship, according to chapter president Breanna Kelly, a senior pursuing a dual degree in exercise science and social science.

“What I believe makes our chapter truly outstanding is the quality of the friendships that are formed,” Kelly said. “The college members genuinely accept their buddies for the people they are despite their differing capabilities. People with disabilities often do not have the opportunity to socialize and interact with typical peers of their age, so it means so much to them and their parents when they can go out to the movies with their buddies or when the buddies take them out for lunch or even give them a call on the phone.”

Members contact their buddies on a weekly basis and participate in at least one one-to-one activity each month. The FSU chapter also hosts one group activity each month and, following a successful Disability Awareness Week last year, plans to repeat the event in the spring, Kelly said.

The international award follows recognition by Best Buddies Florida, which named the FSU group Most Outstanding College Chapter. The FSU group has about 65 members. Donna Fletcher, an associate professor of sport management, recreation management and physical education, served as the group’s adviser for 20 years before Thesla Berne-Anderson, director of college and pre-college outreach at the FSU College of Medicine, assumed the role this fall.