Miami, FL, November 1, 2016 – Best Buddies International, a nonprofit dedicated to creating opportunities for friendship, employment and leadership training for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), is excited to introduce Best Buddies Mobile, the first smartphone app developed by Best Buddies International. Best Buddies Mobile provides a fun and interactive space to celebrate the Best Buddies mission of friendship and inclusion.

Share Your Friendship Moments

Every day, Best Buddies helps facilitate amazing friendships all across the country, and Best Buddies Mobile helps capture the power of inclusion in the moment. You can easily snap a selfie with your buddy and post it instantly to share with your chapter.  Your personalized feed lets you view, like, and comment on exciting and inspirational posts from other chapter members. You can also easily share posts to other social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter.

Stay Connected to Best Buddies

Best Buddies Mobile makes it easier than ever to stay connected with your chapter.  Pull up your chapter’s feed for official announcements from your chapter and turn on push notifications to receive reminders for upcoming chapter events. You can view posts from members of your chapter, and you can also add and follow friends from other chapters.

Let Your Voice Be Heard

Best Buddies Mobile helps ensure that your voice can be heard. Upload a profile picture that lets your posts stand out.  Your posts could be selected to be featured on the national Best Buddies Mobile feed, which will be visible to all app users.  Throughout the month, you can even tag each of your posts to feed directly into your monthly friendship update, and you can submit your final friendship update directly through the app.

Unlock Exclusive Offers

Throughout the year, unlock app-exclusive offers and incentives from Best Buddies and its partners.  This November, users can be entered into weekly contests to win some great prizes!  The contest schedule is as follows:

• Week 1 (November 1-7): if 10 people from your chapter download the app and log in during the week, your chapter will be entered to win a free pizza party courtesy of Best Buddies!
• Week 2 (November 8-14): the chapter with the most members posts this week will receive free doughnuts/beverages for your next chapter meeting!
• Week 3 (November 15-22): the member with the most posts this week will win a swag bag of Best Buddies goodies!
• Week 4 (November 23-December 1): if you use the app to submit your friendship update, you will be entered to win a swag bag of Best Buddies goodies!

Visit https://www.bestbuddies.org/volunteers/2016/11/01/app/ for contest rules.

Download Best Buddies Mobile Now!

Best Buddies Mobile is available for download for free in the Apple App Store here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/best-buddies-mobile/id1101793197?mt=8

ABOUT BEST BUDDIES INTERNATIONAL:

Best Buddies® is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, Best Buddies is a vibrant organization that has grown from one original chapter to more than 1,900 middle school, high school, and college chapters worldwide. Today, Best Buddies’ eight formal programs — Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges, Citizens, e-Buddies® , Jobs, Ambassadors, and Promoters — engage participants in each of the 50 states and in over 50 countries, positively impacting the lives of more than 900,000 people with and without disabilities around the world. In many cases, as a result of their involvement with Best Buddies, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities secure rewarding jobs, live on their own, become inspirational leaders, and make lifelong friendships. For more information, please visit www.bestbuddies.org, facebook.com/bestbuddies or twitter.com/bestbuddies.

Contact Information:

Bill Maurer, Director, Online Programs
Best Buddies International
800.892.8339 toll-free
BillMaurer@bestbuddies.org

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