Past Newsletters

Join us for Best Buddies “Alice in Wonderland” movie night

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:05:00 GMT

You're Invited to a VERY Important Date!

Friday 12th March 2010 from 6pm.

Join us for Best Buddies “Alice in Wonderland” movie night!

Meet at VIVO Café, 388 George St Sydney 2000 from 6pm-7pm for Pre-Movie drinks & desserts courtesy of VIVO.

Film screens at 7:30pm at Event Cinemas, 508-525 George St, Sydney.

This is an event open to everyone – old and new Best Buddies members, friends, family, corporate supporters and celebrities!

Cost: Buddy Pairs that come together will get into the movie FREE (thanks to Hayes Knight!) Everyone else $15 (includes free dessert/drink at VIVO plus entry to 3D film)

Cheapest parking is Wilson Parking 431 Kent Street ($9 flat rate after 5pm).

Nearest train station is Town Hall. Go from VIVO to Event Cinema up George St via free shuttle bus or 20min walk.

RSVP IS ESSENTIAL

RSVP to Natalie 0434 481 274 or natalie@bestbuddies.org.au by 5pm Friday 5th March to reserve your seats.
Online payment will be available from 26th February.

December 2009

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:48:00 GMT

It’s been a great year for Best Buddies Australia.

We’ve held a successful Leadership Conference, increased the number of schools we work with, won the City of Sydney Award for Disability Inclusiveness and held a fantastic Best Buddies Day celebration. It’s been great, however the most significant win was the Best Buddy Pair of the Year Awards. You see, whilst big group events are fun, it’s hanging out with your Buddy that makes a difference. It’s the one-on-one time that makes people feel special. It’s doing things with your friend that makes the biggest impact, and it’s the way we change the world.

Anyone can be part of a crowd, but it takes courage to be a mate.

Finally, Best Buddies in conjunction with the Thomson ASX Reuters Foundation is providing the opportunity for you to win a car. For your chance to win, buy a raffle ticket and click here.

Well done everyone on a great year, don’t forget to check us out on Face Book and Twitter.

Seasons Greetings!

Mark Trevaskis - Executive Director

Buddy Pair Of The Year 2009

Some of you may recognise these smiling faces from a Buddy Pair Profile that we ran earlier in the year. Well the accolades just keep on coming for Jurgen and Owen from Sydney Secondary College - Leichhardt Campus with the news on Friday 27th November that they are the 2009 Best Buddies Buddy Pair Of The Year.

Beating 3 other finalists to the prize of a Helicopter Ride Over Sydney (courtesy of sponsor Redballoon), Jurgen and Owen have formed a genuine friendship which is evident when you see them together.

For the full story, please click here

Best Buddies Day 2009

Each year we like to get all our volunteers together and say THANK YOU for being involved with Best Buddies; thanks for making a difference. This year was no exception and we hosted a barefoot bowls party complete with DJ, BBQ, roaming entertainers and lots and lots of sun!

It was a fantastic day with 150+ people attending, from students to corporates to politicians...

Click here for the full story and more photos.

Social Inclusion Cricket Match Smashes Stereotypes

On November 26th 2009 Best Buddies stepped out for the first annual Social Inclusion Week Cricket Game as part of the Social Inclusion Week celebrations (23rd November - 27th November.)

In conjunction with Macquarie University, 25 participants represented two sides; the home team Macquarie University and the Social Inclusion (SI) Team. The SI team included players from the Lord Taverners side, Best Buddies Exec Director Mark Trevaskis, Carolyn Bruce (Team Manager) and coach Chris Smith.

For a full match report please click here.

Best Buddies wins pestigious award!

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:18:00 GMT

Best Buddies wins Disability Inclusiveness Award

Last night Best Buddies Australia won the 2009 City of Sydney Business Award for Disability Inclusiveness. The award was accepted by Buddy Director Hannah Croaker and Board member Michael Bartels, both of whom have an intellectual disability.

Best Buddies works with people who have intellectual disabilities, building one-on-one, mutually enriching friendships. The organisation is a leader in Social Inclusion. They provide a real and practical way for people to engage in the community, to volunteer and to demonstrate that we can all change the world, one friendship at a time.

Last night, Hannah Croaker delivered an inspiring speech demonstrating that we are all offered unique and powerful opportunities through the power of friendship.

For more information please contact:

Mark Trevaskis
Executive Director
mark@bestbuddies.org.au

September 2009

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:47:00 GMT

Welcome to our September eNewsletter. As the year progresses, Best Buddies is going from strength to strength. We recently presented at the NSW High School Principals State Assembly. Michael and Josh, one of our buddy pairs from Kellyville, provided a great presentation that not only demonstrated the depth of their friendship, but the real value that comes from simply being mates.

Best Buddies has been successful with winning a Grant through the ASX/Reuters Foundation, we have been nominated for a City of Sydney Disability Inclusiveness Award and started developing an evaluation platform. Wow, no wonder we feel like we’re run off our feet!

Finally, I wanted to remind all our volunteers about the upcoming Best Buddies Day celebrations (27 Nov). The day is going to be ‘cracker-jack’ full of fun and surprises. We have some excellent special guests and of course the announcement of who wins the Best Buddies High Schools Pair of the Year Award, sponsored by RedBallon. If you haven't yet voted for the pair that you think should win, entries close on 30th October so click Who's the 'Best' Buddy Pair 2009? and vote now.

Enjoy and watch this space.

Mark Trevaskis - Executive Director

Narelle & Karen - Buddy Pair Profile

Narelle and Karen share a mutual love of the movies. But talk with them for any length of time and it becomes apparent that their friendship is based on a lot more than just regular trips to the cinema. Swimming, walking, the zoo and dinners are just some of the things that these two have done together matched through the Best Buddies Citizens Program in Victoria. Our Citizens Program matches those over 18 with someone who lives locally of the same gender who has similar interests in a one to one friendship.

For an interview with this inspiring buddy pair, please click here

High School Makeover Experience

Best Buddies Australia volunteer Olivia sourced a unique experience for one buddy pair in the month of September; receive a complimentary professional makeover complete with tips and instructions.

The lucky recipients of the at-home experience and expertise provided by our professional makeup artist Gemma were Jessica and Emily from Leichhardt High School on September 8th.

Click here for more photos and the low down...

Why Social Inclusion Is Like a Seat Belt

Director Mark Trevaskis was recently at a meeting with the parent of a young lady with who has an intellectual disability. 'During the conversation, this parent told me that 'Social Inclusion is just like Seat Belts.' When I had a think about it, it made complete sense to me....'

To find out why, click here

City of Sydney Award

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:13:00 GMT

Best Buddies Australia has been nominated for a 2009 City of Sydney Business Award!

Specifically we’re nominated for the Disability Inclusiveness Award. This is great news for us as it’s another step on the road to getting our message out there; Best Buddies Australia is all about inclusion! However we need your help. To increase our chances of winning, we need your vote.

To help with the process, I thought it might be useful to tell you a bit about how Best Buddies Australia is inclusive.

Firstly, we have Michael Bartels on our Board. Michael is simply amazing. Not only does he assist us with the broad strategic direction of Best Buddies, he also assists with training our participants, provides feedback on program delivery and works with sponsors to deliver a top quality program. Michael is invaluable to our organisation. Michael has an intellectual disability.

This year Best Buddies Australia ran our 1st Annual Leadership Conference. This was a great day aimed at Leadership and Social Inclusion. On the day, Best Buddies Ambassador Deborah Hutton provided a tailor made workshop for our Buddy Directors (Young people who have an intellectual disability). The workshop was about how to create a great speech. The young people who attended learnt how to speak up for themselves and how to show leadership.

Finally, for those of you who don’t know exactly what we do....we match young people and adults who have an intellectual disability with an age related peer who does not have a disability. We then support a mutually enriching one to one friendship and ask the Buddy Pair to ‘hang out’ together or a regular basis. The program is about having a bit of fun, treating people with respect and including a group of people in our community who often don’t have a voice.

In Sydney we work with 7 High Schools and hope to launch a Citizen’s (Adult) Program within the next few months. We think we have what it takes to win this award. Best Buddies Australia puts the ‘social’ in ‘social inclusion’. If you have any questions, please feel free to email back or contact us, however if you feel inspired, (and you can find a minute of free time) it would be great to have your vote.

1. Visit the link below
http://www.sydneybusinessawards.com.au/sba/vote/(id)/574

2. Fill in your details.

Finally, I would ask that you send on this email to your networks. I can’t promise that it will bring you good luck, or that you will receive a free phone in the post, however you can rest assured that through goodwill and the power of networks a little ‘not for profit’ can achieve its big dreams.

Should you want to receive regular updates about Best Buddies Australia you can subscribe to our eNewsletter.

Thanks for your support.

Mark Trevaskis
Executive Director

Best Buddies Australia
Building Friendships, Changing Lives

Phone: (02) 9211 8722
Mobile: 0434 481 273
Email: mark@bestbuddies.org.au

WWW.BESTBUDDIES.ORG.AU

July 2009

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:12:00 GMT

July has started with a bang for Best Buddies Australia with our first Annual Leadership Conference for High Schools in NSW. The themes of the day were Leadership and Social Inclusion. As we highlighted to our volunteers, the fantastic thing about Best Buddies is that to really make a difference in these areas, all you need to do is see your buddy! The buddy pair highlighted in this newsletter, Jurgen and Owen are a shining example of this. Perhaps someone will nominate them for the inaugural Buddy Pair Of The Year 2009 Award? (for more on this click 'Nominate' on our home page)

The leadership day was a huge success, my personal highlight of the day was seeing all the students arrive in their unusual 'buses.' A huge thanks to all our supporters, especially Kell & Rigby, Red Balloon, Self Advocacy Sydney Inc, Ms Deborah Hutton and all our wonderful volunteers, without whom the day would not have been possible. Please read the article here for the complete lowdown.

We continue to grow and spread the message of social inclusion and leadership through friendship and I would like to take this opportunity to welcome our newest school Fairvale High to Best Buddies Australia. We look forward to sharing many more stories from our buddies with you all in coming months.

Mark Trevaskis - Executive Director

Buddy Pair Profile - Meet Jurgen & Owen

Jurgen "is the kindest friend I have ever had" says peer buddy Owen of the buddy he has met through Best Buddies Australia. Both students attend Sydney Secondary College - Leichhardt Campus and were introduced to each other in December 2008. Since their first meeting their friendship has flourished with the boys meeting up regularly, playing games, going to see films and hanging out at the shopping mall together, amongst other things! Well done Jurgen and Owen!

For more on this inspiring buddy pair , please click here.

Kellyville High School Go Bowling!

On Friday 26th June Kellyville High School Best Buddies Chapter had the afternoon off school and took their group 10-pin bowling at AMF Bowling, Castle Hill. Chapter President Sarah reports: "We were split into teams and everyone put their names into the computer. We had a game of bowling, then sat down for lunch and were given a token each for games. Everyone had a great time and we are all looking forward to our next outing!"
A great way to round off Term 2 Kellyville. 10-pin bowling seems to be a popular choice with groups this term, with three other schools also scheduling a trip to their local bowling alley!

The group of Peer Buddies from Kellyville is shown here at their training day late last year as at the time of publication photos from the day were not yet available.

BBA Annual Leadership Day

Macquarie University's leading Special Education Unit played host to Best Buddies Australia's inaugural leadership conference on Wednesday 1st July 2009. Student leaders from six schools, teaching staff, volunteers, corporate partners, board members and staff came from all over the Sydney region transported by fabulous, wacky, stylish and ordinary vehicles. The tone was set for a fast paced, challenging and fun day...

For a more detailed rundown of the day please click here

May 2009 - Photo Competition

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:16:00 GMT

Welcome back to Term 2! Can you believe it's May already!?

Best Buddies is having some May MADNESS and wants to giveaway a warm winter hoodie or a rugby top (worth $55 each) to:

The FIRST buddy pair that posts a photo of them out together (tell us where you were and what you were doing!) AND
The BEST buddy pair photo taken whilst you are out and about together (again, tell us where you were and what you were doing!)

The winners will be announced 1st June 2009 so grab your buddy and a camera, get snapping and send us your pics!

Go to www.bestbuddies.org.au enter the BUDDY UP section and follow the prompts to upload photos. If you're not sure how, call Natalie on 0434 481 274 or Mark on 9211 8722.

April 2009

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:15:00 GMT

Welcome to 2009, or should I say the Year of the Buddy!

While difficult to believe, we are already nearly at the end of the first term at school and the year is in full swing. Best Buddies as an organisation is going from strength to strength. In the current economic downturn we were very fortunate to receive some funding from NSW Department of Disability Ageing and Home Care, we are currently developing a much stronger relationship with our Victorian Partners and we are in the midst of looking to expand the program in NSW.

Of course, while as an organisation we are hard at work, it is the dedication and hard work of everyone involved that continues to spread the good word. I’m already hearing wonderful stories of Buddy Pairs getting out together and having a great time. Whether it’s going for a coffee or heading off to see a film together, it’s all about seeing each other on a regular basis and working on the one to one friendships Best Buddies is famous for.

Well done all and watch this space for more exciting news from Best Buddies Australia!

Mark Trevaskis – Executive Director

Buddy Pair Profile

Maeve and Hannah from Blackwattle Bay Campus of Sydney Secondary College have been matched now for 8 months. You may recognise their faces as they have recently been poster girls for Best Buddies Australia, appearing both on our website and, as pictured here, at the website launch in November last year...
Not only are they are buddy pair with a strong friendship - meeting regularly at Gloria Jeans and going to the movies are favourite things to do together - but both students hold Officer positions in their Chapter and they have been actively contributing to the small but growing group.

Family Pizza Night at Leichhardt Campus Sydney Secondary College

Leichhardt held a family pizza night on March 25th 2009 at the school which was an excellent chance for the families of both sides of the buddy pair to meet each other and learn more about the program whilst eating pizza that the buddy pairs made. The pizza was FANTASTIC and a great night was had by all... For more info click here

Blackwattle Buddies at Diversity Day

Blackwattle Campus Chapter at Sydney Secondary College took part in their school's Diversity Day celebrations on Wednesday March 25th with a temporary tattoo stand... The tattoos proved to be immensely popular with many students buying more than one for 50c, $1 or $2. A 'guess-the-number-of-easter-eggs-in-the-jar' competition was also popular. The team raised a tidy sum of money for their group activities next term, and also raised awareness in the school of what Best Buddies is about. To read more please click here