e-Buddies harnesses the tremendous power of friendship by connecting people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) through a virtual space. At Best Buddies, we believe that by empowering our participants through friendship, we enable educational conversations, understanding amongst peers, celebrate diversity and help our participants become leaders in their communities.
Our goal is always to make sure that we are providing a great experience to everyone involved in our program (whether matched or not). The past 18 months have taught us a great deal; we have heard the recommendations of our participants and recognize the increased interest in making more virtual connections.
As a result, e-Buddies has evolved! Our program now includes additional connection opportunities and the creation of a more engaging community for all our e-Buddies participants.
What remains the same?
- One-to-one matches
- Being matched with someone who shares interests, is of a similar age and lives in a different geographic area
- Developing a friendship with someone through a virtual space
What are the new opportunities?
- Participation in a larger e-Buddies Community
- Opportunity to attend virtual events
- Connect with other e-Buddies members through our e-Buddies Community Platform
- More virtual options available to connect with your e-Buddy
- Personal freedom to make decisions that work for both of you as to best ways to communicate.
- Exchange e-mails, connect on social media, direct messaging, video chats, etc.
What happens now?
- All active e-Buddies members (matched and unmatched) were sent an opt-in survey. If you did not complete it, please do so ASAP. If you have not received the survey (and it is not in your junk/spam folder), please reach out to ebuddies@bestbuddies.org.
- Our e-mail system (ebuddy@ebuddies.org) has closed and e-Buddies matches are no longer able to exchange emails that way. If you are trying to reach your e-Buddy and opted-in through the survey, please reach out to ebuddies@bestbuddies.org.
- For those members waiting to be matched in an e-Buddies friendship, we plan to resume making matches in January 2022.
Please contact ebuddies@bestbuddies.org if you have any questions.