Best Buddies Georgia Buddy Beat! - September 2024

Your one-stop shop for all things happening with Best Buddies in Georgia schools.

Author

Doug Peters
September 04, 2024

Need the quick, brief details? We have you covered! Here is a summary:

  • We look forward to your attendance at Leadership Training Day (LTD) 😎! There are three ways that you can join us for this mandatory training exercise: in-person, virtual, or watching the recorded option (which will be sent on Tuesday, September 10th). Please register by completing the links below:

  • September is recruitment season ✨! Jumpstart the new school year by hosting a recruitment meeting to share Best Buddies info with your school. Also, don’t forget to:

    • Complete the friendship match process and host your friendship match reveal parties by October, and..

    • Be mindful of the November 1st BB360 deadline to upload all meetings, matches, and events! (Match parties are N/A for Elementary and Promoter Chapters)

  • We are streamlining our support process through the Chapter Check-In Form! This form should be completed once a month per school and should take at most 5 minutes to complete.

  • Want to be involved in this year’s Champion of the Year 🥇? We love to have you! Please email our Deputy Director of Development, Catherine Justice at [email protected] if you want to be involved with our Champion of the Year. We would love to have you!

  • Not an email person? Join our community on Remind to get updates there!

  • Gear up for an exciting fall semester, and most importantly, have fun!

Register TODAY for In-Person or Virtual Leadership Training Day!

Registration is still open for Leadership Training Day! We hope you join us for learning, team-building, and fun at Insight Global (1224 Hammond Drive, Suite 1500, Atlanta, GA 30346), from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 14th! It’s going to be an amazing opportunity to pick up some valuable leadership skills, meet new faces, and receive important information to help you successfully run your chapter. Whether attending in-person, virtual, or watching the recording, Leadership Training Day is mandatory for all school chapters. Don’t forget to RSVP by clicking the button below to secure your spot! Also 👀…We are excited to announce that we are giving away FREE bookbags to everyone who registers for in-person LTD! If you can’t make it to the in-person event, no sweat! Feel free to join us on Monday, September 9th at 6:00 p.m. on Zoom for the virtual training or wait for the recorded option on Tuesday, September 10th.

Please Note: If you cannot make it to the virtual or in-person options, please send us a courtesy message once we send the recording so we can give you credit for attending. 

Upcoming Events

Date: Sunday, October 6th
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Location: 708 Spring St NW, Atlanta, GA 30308

What in the World is Leaders League??

Leader’s League is a chance to connect with other Best Buddies leaders nationwide (Expansion) and statewide with your program manager (PM).

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, please feel free to visit my Calendly to set up a time to chat one-on-one.

Recruitment Season is HERE!

As you return to school, don’t waste time before starting to recruit new members to your Best Buddies chapter!

You’ll find a ton of helpful resources (and the BB logo!) for recruitment on Best Buddies University! We also have a Best Buddies in Georgia Toolkit with tons of resources.

If you need support with recruitment, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Doug. Always happy to help!

2024 Champion of the Year

We're excited to share that it's time once again for our Champion of the Year event, and we could really use your help 🤩!

We are thrilled to host this year’s 2024 Champion of the Year Gala, happening on Friday, November 1st at 6:00 p.m. at the beautiful Biltmore Ballroom (817 W Peachtree St NW, #208, Atlanta, GA 30308). This is our annual opportunity to come together and celebrate the incredible leaders of inclusion in our community through a friendly fundraising competition. We cannot do this event without YOU, and we hope you can contribute to this fun event!

Our goal is for our guests to experience as many "mission moments" as possible, as we have so many unique schools within our community. With this in mind, we thought it would be wonderful if they could see the amazing creativity from our chapters. With this in mind, we would like our chapters to showcase any art forms that reflect what friendship or Best Buddies means to your chapter—whether it's photography, painting, collage, or anything else that inspires you! These pieces will be featured in our silent auction, with the names of the artists and their schools proudly displayed. Guests will have the opportunity to bid on these works, supporting BBGA programs in the process. Additionally, if you and your buddy have any musical talents you'd like to share—whether it’s singing, dancing, or any other performance art—we’d be absolutely thrilled to have you on stage!

If you're interested in participating in this year’s Champion of the Year, please let us know. Also, feel free to check out our website at https://www.bestbuddieschampion.org/georgia/.

If you are interested in participating, please feel free to reach out to Doug Peters, Deputy Director of Programs, at [email protected]. For more questions about the event itself, please reach out to Cat Justice, Deputy Director of Development, at [email protected]. We are so grateful for everything you do!

 

Check Out Our 2024 Champion of the Year Candidates and Schedule!

Buddy Spotlight - Meet Amari and Nixon from Ebenezer Elementary School!

We are thrilled to showcase this month’s Buddy Spotlight, Amari and Nixon from Ebenezer Elementary School! Amari and Nixon were submitted by their faculty advisor, Mrs. Kaity Lancaster. Please see the quote below to learn more about this dynamic duo!

"Amari and Nixon have developed the sweetest friendship. These two play basketball together almost every single day. Their friendship is proof of how important inclusion is, not only to students with IDD but students without IDD. They both have great qualities to offer to one another and that is what makes their friendship so strong! Check out what Nixon said, in his own words, about what Best Buddies means to him. It is a tear jerker!”

Nixon: "Best Buddies means everything to me! It’s so awesome!”

Mrs. Lancaster: “What does your friendship with Amari mean to you?”

Nixon: “Amari is so fun, amazing and funny! We sometimes play thumb wars!”

Mrs. Lancaster: “What do you enjoy most about your friendship with Amari?”

Nixon: “It is unspeakable. I cannot explain in words why our friendship is so awesome. It’s just how special Amari makes me feel being friends with him."

-Kaity Lancaster, Faculty Advisor, Ebenezer Elementary School

We are so happy to have Nixon, Amari, Kaity, and our entire Ebenezer Elementary 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]!