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- Best Buddies Georgia Buddy Beat! - February 2024
Best Buddies Georgia Buddy Beat! - February 2024
Your one-stop shop for all things happening with Best Buddies in Georgia schools.
Doug Peters
February 01, 2024
Need the quick details? We have you covered! Here is a summary:
We are launching a Back to Best Buddies (Virtual Week) on Tuesday, February 13th and Thursday, February 15th for chapters that can’t make the in-person training experiences! As a reminder, all chapters must have at least one leader to attend virtually or in person. Please register by clicking the links below!
Back to Best Buddies (Virtual Week)
Tuesday, February 13th, 6:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m., Zoom
Registration Link: https://forms.bestbuddies.org/4903690?eventId=a18Uc0000045Lnw
Thursday, February 15th, 8:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., Zoom
Registration Link: https://forms.bestbuddies.org/4903690?eventId=a18Uc0000045aVE
The in-person Back to Best Buddies (Middle Georgia) training has been canceled to accommodate for Back to Best Buddies (Virtual Week). We hope to see you via Zoom!
The next Leaders League is scheduled for Wednesday, February 14th from 7:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.! Leaders League is optional, but there will be prize giveaways for those who can make it! Registration Link: https://forms.bestbuddies.org/4903690?eventId=a18Uc000000MmKa
Friendship Walk season is underway, and we have a few cool incentives that we can’t wait to share! We hope you register your school and join us for a day of free food, lots of fun, and friendship. Keep scrolling as we reveal our fundraising incentives this year!
Thank you for submitting your Chapter Check-In Forms last month! Who will be this month’s prize giveaway winner 👀? Stay tuned!
We hope that you join us for our in-person Back to Best Buddies training experiences in February! Please feel free to register for the event of your choice by clicking the links below:
Is your school or chapter involved with DECA? If so, we want to hear from you! Please send a message to our State Director, Katie Stanton, at [email protected].
Special Touch Ministry is hosting a camp from August 19th through August 22nd at the Timberlake Retreat Center in Forsyth, GA. Please click this link for the flyer and reach out to [email protected] for more information!
Foster the love of inclusion by hosting an event or fundraiser to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Please visit our community toolkit HERE for event ideas.
Meet our Buddy Spotlight, Sammy Umezaki from Norcross High School!
Consider which leader from your chapter will attend the Best Buddies Leadership Conference, taking place on Friday, July 19th through Monday, July 22nd at Indiana University Bloomington! We are sending out registration fee invoices this month to our high school and college chapters, so please be on the lookout!
It’s never too soon to think about the End-of-the-Year reports! Stay ahead of the curve by uploading your goals to BB360 and keeping track of all of the amazing things you are doing this school year.
Join our virtual community on Remind and GroupMe!
In all things, always remember to have fun!
New Month, Endless Possibilities!
Greetings!
We hope this message finds you well and thriving as we dive into February! In the spirit of this month’s theme, we would like to extend a “HEARTfelt” (pun-intended 😄) thank you to each of you for your unwavering commitment to fostering inclusive friendships within your school chapters.
Your dedication to following requirements outlined by our headquarters and state operations has not gone unnoticed, and we truly appreciate your efforts in making a positive impact. Thank you so much for:
Uploading Friendship Matches: Ensuring that friendship matches are uploaded on BB360, creating valuable one-to-one connections for our members (Optional for elementary chapters).
Uploading Meetings, Events, Registrations, and End of the Year Reports on BB360: Remaining engaged with us by maintaining and reporting meetings, events, member registration, and reports on BB360.
Maintaining Open Communication with Programs Staff: Providing valuable insights into the activities and progress of your chapter through the completion of the monthly check-in form, as well as general communication on how things are going at your school. (I know the Chapter Check-In Form process is new for us, but it has been a HUGE help and I appreciate it!)
Leadership Training Experiences: Sending at least one representative from your school to participate in both Leadership Training Day (Fall) and Back to Best Buddies (Spring), enhancing leadership skills, growing knowledge of best practices, and contributing to the growth of your chapter in a fun way.
Leadership Conference Attendance (July 19-22, 2024): Ensuring at least one member from your chapter attends the upcoming Leadership Conference, contributing to a shared vision of inclusivity (Optional for elementary and middle school chapters).
Your commitment to these requirements not only strengthens the foundation of your chapters but also contributes to the overall success of Best Buddies in Georgia. Seeing all of your members having fun and fostering genuine friendships with each other has been inspiring. We appreciate YOU!
As always, if you have any questions or need further assistance with anything at all, no matter how small or daunting, please do not hesitate to reach out. Together, we can continue to make a positive impact and create a more inclusive world.
Thank you once again for your outstanding efforts. We look forward to continuing the fun and celebrating your successes with you!
Chapter Check-In Forms - Winner Selected!
We are thrilled to have over 40 elementary, middle, high school, and collegiate Best Buddies school chapters in Georgia! We are so glad to have you a part of our community and look forward to doing amazing work together.
With so many schools and one school program staff, this form was created to ensure you get the individualized support you need to be successful. This form should be completed once a month per school and should take a few minutes to complete. Only one form is needed per school chapter!
In the spirit of fun and friendship, we are doing a monthly random prize drawing for chapters that complete the Chapter Check-In Form on time for the rest of the school year! The winner for January is….*cues virtual drumroll*
🥁🥁🥁…….
Kimia Askari from Denmark High School! 📢! I will reach out to you individually with the next steps!
Who will be our next winner? We will keep you posted RIGHT HERE in the next Georgia Buddy Beat! Thank you again for completing the check-in forms. It is a HUGE HELP in providing support and helping your chapter continue to be amazing. As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need any assistance!
Best Buddies Friendship Walk: Incentives Announced!
We are thrilled to bring our Friendship Walks to THREE different locations this year (Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah), and we need YOUR help to make these events a rising success! A HUGE shoutout to Emory, Denmark HS, Beacon Hill MS, Pope HS, Riverwood HS, Decatur HS, and Sand Hill ES for registering a team using the links above.
Best Buddies Friendship Walk stands out as a premier nationwide event dedicated to promoting inclusion for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). With approximately 45,000 participants joining Friendship Walks globally, this event promises a lively and family-friendly celebration featuring FREE food, music, dancing, photo opportunities, and engaging activities.
Our Atlanta Friendship Walk is taking place on Saturday, April 20th at Blackburn Park from 8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. We will keep you posted on the Macon and Savannah Friendship Walk dates, but please register in advance and join in on the fun!
Please Note: If your chapter has already registered for the Friendship Walk, please be on the lookout for a virtual Friendship Walk Coordinator meeting date soon. Thank you!
We also wanted to share a few of our incentives for fundraising! If you are unable to fundraise this year, no worries! The most important thing is seeing you at Friendship Walk as we celebrate your chapter community. However, there are some pretty cool incentives for individual and group fundraising if you decide to do so. You have the potential to receive incentives from both Best Buddies in Georgia AND Best Buddies International, so you can get twice as many items! Please see the info below for this year’s incentives from our state office and headquarters.
Also, please check out Best Buddies University and our Google Toolkit for fundraising ideas!
Best Buddies International Individual Fundraising Incentives
Best Buddies in Georgia School Chapter Incentives
Foster the love of friendship! Consider hosting a fundraiser and signing up for a Friendship Walk event.
As you recruit new members to your Best Buddies chapter and plan inclusive events, don’t forget to make Best Buddies fun!
We have many resources on Best Buddies University and our Best Buddies in Georgia Chapter Toolkit, including match party ideas, recruitment items, training materials from LTD, and other helpful documents. For more questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]. Thank you!
Upcoming Events
2023-2024 Best Buddies School Calendar
What in the World is Leaders League??
Leader’s League is a chance to connect with other Best Buddies leaders nationwide (Expansion) and in Georgia (Georgia).
If you can’t make a monthly call, please feel free to pass along the Zoom info to your Vice President or another officer!
As always, if you need anything outside of these monthly calls, you can always schedule a meeting via Calendly to set up a time to chat one-on-one. We also do a random prize giveaway at the end, so please try to jump on with us!
Back to Best Buddies 2024: Virtual Dates Added!
We look forward to seeing you at Back to Best Buddies! Back to Best Buddies is our mandatory spring training experience to jumpstart the Spring 2024 semester. There will be FREE food, fun giveaways (for in-person sessions), and tons of information to assist in leading your chapter. Each chapter is required to only attend one session. Please register using the provided links, and we look forward to seeing you there!
Remind and GroupMe
We are increasing our chapter support by using Remind to send updates and GroupMe to facilitate the exchange of ideas for a successful year. We hope you join our community!
In the spirit of collaboration, you can use these spaces (including BB360’s Chatter feature) to speak with other chapter leaders to exchange event ideas, fundraiser concepts, BB360 troubleshooting, share event photos, great news, helpful tips, etc. Join our community by clicking the links below!
Remind
GroupMe
Buddy Spotlight - Meet Sammy Umezaki from Norcross High School!
We are thrilled to showcase this month’s Buddy Spotlight, Sammy Umezaki from Norcross High School! Sammy was submitted by his faculty advisor, Erin Ellison. Please see the quote below to learn more about Sammy!
“Sammy Umezaki has come out of his shell SO much through Best Buddies. He loves to visit, dance, and participate in our monthly events. “
We are so happy to have Sammy, Erin, and our Norcross High School community with us at Best Buddies in Georgia! Thank you for sharing this spotlight and we appreciate all your hard work in creating an inclusive environment for your school community. To submit a Buddy Spotlight for a member in your chapter, please send a message to Doug Peters at [email protected]!