Best Buddies club earns Outstanding Chapter Award at L-W East

   The Best Buddies club at Lincoln-Way East High School has earned special recognition for its efforts to foster one-to-one friendships with students with special needs.

   The club, which numbers 176 student participants, was recently presented with the Outstanding Chapter Award.

   “It is overwhelming to see how dedicated all the participating students are to Best Buddies,” said Lincoln-Way East special services case manager Johnny Russler who co-sponsors the Best Buddies club with Theresa Burns and Elizabeth Russler.

    “It is fun, challenging and rewarding and we are proud to be sponsors of such great students and this club,” he added. “Earning this award illustrates the pride and dedication we all have to this club.”

   “Being part of Best Buddies since the club's inception, it is amazing to see how we have grown,” said Burns. “We weren't sure how much of an interest we would have from the students, but East has exceeded all expectations. It is so exciting to be recognized with such an honor being a new club. We are eager to see the direction our new officers, led by President Nathan Drewes, will take the club next year.”

   East’s Best Buddies club was launched in 2012 under the leadership of then-junior Rachel DiNaso. It was an immediate success, gathering 80 student participants within the first three months and earning the club the 2012 Rookie Chapter of the Year Award.

   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.

   At East, students with disabilities (buddies) are paired up with students without disabilities (peer buddies) and friendships develop. They are encouraged to get together outside of school (whether it be a trip to the movie theater or local pizza parlor), call each other on the phone and exchange email.

   “It's exciting to see how friendships change lives,” said the club’s past president, Rachel DiNaso, who learned firsthand how rewarding it is to work with students with special needs after participating in the school’s Adaptive P.E. program.

   “Everyone deserves friends,” she said, “and this is what (Best Buddies) is all about.”

   East’s Best Buddies chapter not only fostered new friendships this year but also participated in the Best Buddies Illinois Friendship Walk, raising over $1,500 for Best Buddies to help spread the mission of friendship and inclusion.

   “As special education sponsor, I work closely with the buddies and their parents,” said Burns. “I love hearing from parents that their child has more confidence, is more outgoing and feels more included. The mission of Best Buddies is spreading through East. We are truly changing lives one friendship at a time.”