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.

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 

 

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.

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

 

 

 

 

                  


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.

• 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.

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.

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

 

• 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.