Announcing the Premiere of the We Are Best Buddies California Blog

We want to bring you the stories that bring Best Buddies California to life, so, we’ve launched the We Are Best Buddies California Blog. We’ll tell you what’s going on in the schools, in the workplaces, at Best Buddies International and all the ways you can support Best Buddies California.  We encourage you to comment on our blog posts, and share our posts with your Facebook friends. If you have stories or photos you’d like to share on our blog, please contact us at bbcablog@gmail.com. The We are Best Buddies California Blog is about you!

You can follow our blog in all the usual ways, and we’ll also be sending out periodic emails reminding our friends that we have new posts to share.

The world of Best Buddies California is an exciting one and things are heating up for a very active holiday season and 2011!  Coming out of a spectacularly successful match period, high school students throughout the state are making friends, and our jobs participants are experiencing the satisfaction of full employment.  Here at Best Buddies California headquarters, we will be starting our planning for a lively Best Buddies Month next March, with lots of opportunities for volunteers and the BBCA family to show their support.

Best Buddies Jobs Participant, Jon Freeman Celebrates 8 Years at Access Hollywood

By Jessica Patton, Best Buddies Jobs Coach

Jon, center, with co-workers, Hugo Troncoso,
left, and Rob Rosellen, right

Jon Freeman began working at Access Hollywood on November 5, 2002 as a Degausser (tape eraser) at the Video Library.  Originally working only five hours a week, Jon was housed in a room off of the Library using a degaussing machine to erase tapes.  By November of 2003, Jon had graduated to 24 hours a week and had received a $3.00/week raise!  He continued to work hard in the Library for several years, while his Best Buddies Employment Consultants helped him to improve and build on his skills. 

In September of 2009, Jon moved from the basement’s Video Library upstairs to Access Hollywood’s Production Office where he started putting in 32 hours a week as a Runner.  His day-to-day job changed drastically. As a Runner, Jon has the opportunity to see and experience many of the facets of putting on a fast-paced television show like Access Hollywood.  Jon is primarily responsible for providing the Production Office with assistance on the NBC lot and the Access Hollywood offices.  While other runners are sent off the lot to run errands, Jon’s supervisors can depend on him to help take care of the day-to-day office tasks and errands that come up on set.  One of Jon’s supervisors, Rob Rosellen, says that “Jon is a huge help to the Production Office and is always a great worker. We love having him here.” 

Eight years after starting with Access Hollywood, Jon has advocated for himself in many ways.  He now works four days a week and has nearly doubled his hourly rate.  Jon also receives benefits from Access Hollywood including sick and vacation time, employee discounts, and passes to screenings of new films at NBC Universal.  

We asked Jon to tell us a little bit about what it’s like working for Access Hollywood and being a participant with Best Buddies Jobs:

Q:  Jon, you’ve been working at Access Hollywood for 8 years.  How does that feel?

A:  It’s amazing.  With all of the problems that I’ve gone through, it’s the longest that I have held a job.  I love my job very much. 

Q:  How do you feel about Best Buddies Jobs?

A:  If it weren’t for Best Buddies Jobs, I wouldn’t have gotten a job.  They have done a very good job supporting me and everyone has worked well with me. 

Q:  How do you feel about your coworkers and supervisors?

A:  My co-workers and supervisors are amazing.  They support me in every way.  Even though I have a disability, they treat me equally.

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Q:  What’s the best thing about working in the Production Office as a runner?

A:  I like not being isolated, like I was before.  I’m around so many people I can talk to. 

Q:  What advice would you give a person with a disability who wants to work?

A:  I would say that when the time is right, you will find a job that fits you.  Even with a disability, you can find a job and everything will work out.

Q:  What advice would you give to an employer who is considering hiring a person with a disability?

A:  Even though a person has a disability, they are no different than anyone else.  You should give them an equal chance to prove themselves and show that they can do a good job.

If you’d like more information about becoming a Best Buddies Jobs Employer, you can call Rachel Spooner at 310.642.2620 or email her at rachelspooner@bestbuddies.org.

Jon Freeman, center, with Best Buddies Jobs Coaches, Jessica Patton, left, and Rachel Spooner, right

Fall is for Forming Friendships

During the month of October, Best Buddies High School Chapters all over California held their Match Parties where they announced this year’s one-to-one Buddy Pairs

By Jessica Foults, Program Supervisor

The Fall is always an exciting season for the Best Buddies Chapters worldwide.  During the month of October, the Best Buddies Friendship Programs host local and regional ‘Match Parties” where they invite all of their chapter members to attend a fun activity where the one-to-one friendships between Buddies and Peer Buddies are announced.

Prior to the Match Parties, our Best Buddies friendship programs spend several months recruiting, interviewing, and training their new members.  Social events are planned that act as ice breakers for the students and encourage interaction through structured activities.

Our friendship programs enjoy planning their Match Parties by tying in creative themes from the October Halloween Holiday to creative games that challenge their members to put together riddles and puzzles to determine their match.

Several Highlights from our regional High School Friendship Programs included:

Esperanza High School’s Parent Night Match Party - Students and parents were treated to refreshments, an informational Best Buddies video, and a jelly bean raffle.

Diamond Bar High School’s annual Parent Lunch Match Party - Participants prepared a slideshow of their members, a buffet lunch, and took fun photos of the Buddy pairs.  Many of our programs choose to include parents at their Match Parties to help facilitate communication between the families of the Peer Buddies (General Education Students) and the Buddies (students in Special Education). 

Escondido High School in San Diego had a noteworthy Match Party where they held a Hawaiian Luau, and encouraged the Buddy Pairs to create secret handshakes and dances to share with the group!

The Escondido High School Match Party theme was a Hawaiian Luau!

Buddy Stories: Calvin and Adrian

By Billy Pittard, Best Buddies California Advisory Board Member

Calvin Carillo and Adrian Delgado of Diamond Bar High School have a great story to tell. Their story shows how Best Buddies positively affects the lives of the people it touches. Many thanks go to Calvin and Adrian for allowing us to make this short movie!

The movie of Calvin and Adrian was shot this past spring and it’s the first of several movies we have in the works. Our goal is to share these Buddy Stories with the public so everyone can see the good work that Best Buddies does. I am endlessly moved and impressed with the stories I hear from people whose lives have been touched by Best Buddies. Every story is unique, and there are always lots of smiles and good feelings involved.

We’re looking for volunteer filmmakers to create more films. If you or someone you know is a skilled or aspiring documentary filmmaker, we have lots of great stories waiting to be told! Contact us at bbcablog@gmail.com to volunteer.

Our sincere appreciation goes to filmmaker, Paul Babin for shooting and editing the Calvin and Adrian movie. Be sure to notice the end credits on the movies to see all of the volunteers who contributed to this film.

Best Buddies California Announces its New State Director, Patricia Sterne Evans

Patty brings a rich, diverse career in service to her new position as State Director of California, which began as a VISTA volunteer in Virginia in the early days of community action.  She had thought it would be just a “year of giving back” between completing a degree in Advertising/Marketing at the University of Florida and embarking on a conventional career, but found, like many non-profit experiences, it transformed her life. 

Electoral politics, environmental lobbying, a move to Los Angeles from Washington, DC, public affairs consulting and two terms at the Community Redevelopment Agency/City of Los Angeles made up her early career.  In 1991, having lost many friends to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Patty joined the AIDS movement and spent five years in the Los Angeles office of AmFAR.  She transitioned back into local government with 3 years as Operations Manager at a local Business Improvement District and in 2000 joined Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation as Sr. Events Manger, producing its two LA-based signature events, the A Time for Heroes Celebrity Carnival and the Celebrity Golf Tournament.  In 2006 Patty got the opportunity to broaden her development experience by joining the national headquarters of Starlight Children’s Foundation as Vice President of Development.  There she was tasked with creating an individual giving program, consisting of multiple revenue streams, including the production of one of the first casual online games created by a non-profit for fundraising purposes.

Patty, her husband John and their kitty cat Pumpkin live in Los Angeles within an easy drive to the State Headquarters.  In her spare time, she creates art quality embroidery, loves to read and is a huge fan of Jeopardy and The Simpsons.  She’s proud and excited about taking on the mission of leading Best Buddies in California. “It’s a truly remarkable mission,” she says, “that has touched me personally.  I’m looking forward to working with all the wonderful families, buddies, students, volunteers, staff and the California Advisory Board to expand our reach, increase our resources and continue to transform the lives of thousands of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”

Local Leadership Training Days a Success in the Inland Empire and San Diego

By Jeremiah White, Deputy Director, Programs and Operations

Separate Local Leadership Training Days were held in San Diego and Inland Empire during the month of October. Both trainings were well attended by a number of student leaders and Advisors in each region.

San Diego had their Local Leadership Training Day on Saturday, October 2nd at beautiful Westview High School.

The key players attended several training sessions that touched upon many areas of their chapters including recruitment, managing Buddy Pairs and Best Buddies Online.

Overall, attendance was incredible and a special thanks to the Westview High School key players for hosting the event.

The Inland Empire region had their Local Leadership Training Day the following week on October 10th on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon at Norte Vista High School.

Many Inland Empire chapter representatives attended the training and were engaged and attentive throughout the sessions. Again, special appreciation goes out to the Norte Vista High School key players for hosting the training.

Best Buddies California has officially wrapped up their statewide Local Leadership Training Days and we are excited to see our chapters grow throughout the remainder of the year.

Leaders in training!

Eunice Kennedy Shriver Legacy Honored Globally on September 25th

Eunice Kennedy Shriver had one vision — to show the world that people with intellectual disabilities could achieve and thrive in society. Her vision and legacy live on through two organizations — Best Buddies and Special Olympics. With her sons Anthony and Timothy at the helm of each respectively, they are leading the world's largest classrooms for acceptance and inclusion. In their own ways, whether it be through sports, friendship, leadership development or jobs Best Buddies and Special Olympics are changing the world.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver Day has been created in her honor to inspire people to experience her legacy and embrace the movement she founded more than 42 years ago in her backyard. There are three key components to honoring her legacy:

PLAY: A day of sports training clinics and sports activities to commemorate Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s belief in building greater equality through organized athletics.

JOIN: An effort to share her life and impact and to educate people about the urgent needs of people with intellectual disabilities and to motivate new fans and friends to act.

BUILD: A regional effort to dedicate new or renovated athletic facilities in Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s honor in the poorest communities.

Hundreds of events took place on September 25th all over the world to honor Eunice Kennedy Shriver.

Some of the notable events included:

·      FIFA Football for Hope™ Center in Namibia was dedicated in Eunice Kennedy Shriver’s name

·      Unified Sports® events with Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Charity in Calcutta and Delhi, India

·      Special Olympics Camp Shriver events were held in East Timor, Haiti and Malaysia

·      U.S. Soccer Foundation field dedication at the Washington, D.C Friendship Charter School

·      Special Olympics Healthy Athletes screenings for those with intellectual disabilities took place in over 20 countries

Additionally, Best Buddies participated in the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Challenge which took place in Washington D.C. on October 23, 2010, and raised over 1 million dollars for programs supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.