Best Buddies Gives Students A Special Bond

On any ordinary Friday after school you can find a small group of kids gathering in the cafeteria. Boys and girls are sprawled across two lunch tables talking and laughing.

This is anything but an ordinary group of kids, however. These are members of the EGHS Best Buddies club. Some of the students have developmental disabilities and some don’t. Those with developmental disabilities are the “buddies” and the others are known as “peer buddies.”

Best Buddies was founded in 1989 with only one chapter. Today it has more than 1,500 chapters internationally. It is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping students learn about each other and form friendships that they may not otherwise have made. It also helps them gain real-life social experience to tackle future endeavors. “We try to make it special for everyone here,” said Fran Healy the head of Best Buddies at EGHS.

The EGHS club’s hard work and dedication paid off this year because it won the award of most outstanding chapter at the high school and college level in Rhode Island at the annual Best Buddies Ball on April 2. The award is given to the school with the highest level of participation.

Most of the high school Best Buddy clubs in Rhode Island attend the ball. This year more than 300 people attended. The EGHS club took up three tables themselves.
“Growing, we are really growing a lot,” Healy said. The buddies look forward to the ball because it is almost like a extra prom. The dress is formal, there is a dinner, pictures and dancing.

“It’s a celebration of the school year,” Healy said.

Everyone was thrilled with the win, she said, and it’s very satisfying to see the growth of the EGHS chapter. U.S. Rep. David Cicilline presented the EGHS Best Buddies with their award.

As if to illustrate why the club won the award this year, there are many events lined up through the end of the year. And both its president and vice president — students Ivy Chen and Anthony Melnick — are planning to attend a Best Buddies conference this summer in Indiana. The group is hoping to send one additional student, a buddy, to the conference as well.

The group hopes to raise money for the trip (it will cost around $300 per person) at a car wash at the police station at the end of May. They will be selling tickets in advance, but people are welcome to show up on the day of the event. This is the club's biggest fundraiser of the year.

Also. the EGHS best buddies plan to take part in the Annual Best Buddies Friendship Walk on May 1 in Cranston's Garden City. The group also has a goodbyew picnic coming up in June, when it will say farewell to some of the buddies who are graduating and leaving the group.

Alex Fontaine is a senior at East Greenwich High School.