Meet The Org: Best Buddies

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By Carly Novell

After growing up involved with the disabled community in her hometown, sophomore Alyssa Markopoulos felt there weren’t enough opportunities to connect at her university. When she began attending GW, she participated in a Best Buddies event and loved it, but the club didn’t stay active throughout the rest of the year. In the fall of 2019, Markopoulos decided to take matters into her own hands by reviving a new and improved Best Buddies chapter at George Washington University.

The mission of Best Buddies as an international nonprofit is to facilitate lasting friendships between individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and students through various programming. Students involved can opt to be matched with a “buddy” to help foster a one-on-one friendship with an individual with special needs. If one decides not to pair with a buddy, they can still participate in the Best Buddies events as a member.

“My twin sister actually has developmental and intellectual disabilities, and I felt like I was kind of missing that here,” Best Buddies President Markopoulos said. “I had to go through the process as if it was a new organization. The hardest part was finding a host site because under Best Buddies International, you’re not allowed to start a chapter without a host site.”

Host sites are organizations within communities that assist people living with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD). Markopoulos talked to multiple organizations in the DMV area and found that Innovative Life Solutions was the best match. According to the organization’s programming vice president, Marsha Thompson, Innovative Life Solutions provides homes, transportation, employment support, healthcare support and counseling to youth and adults with IDD.

“Best Buddies helps us help people who we support make friends in the community with people who are not paid to be their friends, who want to be friends because they have stuff in common with them,” Thompson said. “Best buddies is a critical part of our program.”

Best Buddies is comprised of over 1,500 middle school, high school and college chapters worldwide. In 1989, the first Best Buddies chapter was founded here in D.C. at Georgetown University. The Catholic University of America followed soon after with the second national chapter. Best Buddies’ roots are in D.C., so Markopoulos hopes to coordinate some events with surrounding college chapters as well as devise unique programming for GW’s chapter.

At the beginning of February, the club held its first event with Innovative Life Solutions. GW students met with the buddies and bonded through crafts, cookie decorating and games. The club plans to have at least one event a month with the buddies in attendance, their next one being in mid-to-late March. Next week, Best Buddies has a series of events planned in lieu of the “Spread the Word to End the Word” campaign which denoted March 4 as National Awareness Day to inform students about the harmful effects of using the “r-word” in one’s vocabulary.