Best Buddies is an international organization dedicated to building friendships with people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities. Best Buddies has been a club here on the SUNY (State University of New York) Cortland Campus. On Saturday April 29th, 2023, SUNY Cortland Best Buddies members went to the Best Buddies Friendship Walk for Western New York organizations, located in Rochester New York.
SUNY Cortland Best Buddies’ mission is to spread inclusion across the Cortland community. The walk is currently the leading walk in the country dedicated to supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This walk is allocated to support the Best Buddies club and programs in schools, workplaces, and communities.
The Best Buddies Friendship Walk: Western New York goal was to raise $60,000 dollars. They raised $48,959,91.
SUNY Cortland Best Buddies original goal was to raise $1,000; the goal was up to $2,000 when they reached the original goal. They raised $1,182.
SUNY Cortland had many club members attend this walk. The walk was in Rochester, New York. Members had to leave at 6:30am from the park center to get there in time for their walk at 10:00am. Due to the weather the walk was located inside but the set up was still great.
This was SUNY Cortland first time at a Friendship Walk since pre-COVID 19. None of the Best Buddies’ members had been before.
Here are the club members thoughts on the event
Haley Yegidis, best Buddies Secretary, shared, “It was cool to see different chapters all together and I had fun to see everybody having a good time.”
Haley Ferrara, Best Buddies SGA (Student Government Association) representative, stated, “such a great experience, so happy I came.”
McKenna Knott, Best Buddies treasure shared, “I’ve never been, it was so much fun, and it was nice to see different colleges spread the word of inclusion”
Jess, a buddy, shared “It was super fun, my favorite part was the Velcro wall.”
Follow @bestbuddiescortland on instagram from more information about the club and meeting for next semester1
