The end of November and December came with lots to be thankful for, holiday cheer, and leadership development for Best Buddies Indiana. Here is a recap of our holiday activities and the fall ambassador training!

The past two weekends have held lots of excitement for Best Buddies Indiana: the 2017 annual Friendship Ball, and the 2017 Champion of the Year wrap-up, Party with a Purpose. Read on for a recap of each of these exciting events!

Climbing on a fire truck, cleaning light bars from emergency vehicles, taking photos of commercial cooking stoves, chatting with the Mayor, setting up online auctions, sorting a couple hundred recycled three ring binders, collecting parking ticket fines…these are just some of the tasks Matt Burns may encounter in his job as a clerk with the City of Indianapolis.

Indiana’s Best Buddies Jobs program recently received a Three-Year Accreditation from CARF International which represents the highest level of accreditation that can be given to an organization and shows the organization’s substantial conformance to the CARF standards for a provider of supported employment services.

The Best Buddies 15th Anniversary Gala: A Celebration of Friendship took place on Saturday, March 4 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. Over 300 guests attended, enjoying silent and live auctions, a raffle of a beautiful diamond ring sponsored by Master Jewelers, dinner, dancing, and a program emceed by Eric Halvorson.

In February, several members of the Citizen’s Program met at the ArtMix studios at the Harrison Center for the Arts to participate in a candle decorating project. Led by Jobs Program supervisor and craft aficionado Kim Harvey, fifteen Citizen’s Program Participants donned protective gloves and nurtured their inner Impressionist as they inked over 100 gorgeous candles…