Welcome to the Best Buddies Mountain Region Champion of the Year Gala!
On behalf of the Best Buddies Mountain Region Advisory Board and Event Committee, we are thrilled to share this evening with you to celebrate the power of friendship and inclusion. Tonight is the culmination of a philanthropic competition featuring 15 dynamic community leaders who have been nominated as ‘Champions’ to raise funds and awareness for Best Buddies Mountain Region over the last several weeks. This competition continues throughout the evening as all donations and bids are tied back to the candidate you are supporting, and 100% of every dollar raised goes directly towards Best Buddies programs in the Mountain Region of Colorado & Utah. With so many supporters in the room the anticipation builds, the totals are tabulated, and the Grand Champion is announced! A sincere thank you goes to our sponsors, in-kind donors and event volunteers for making this evening possible. These companies and individuals have demonstrated the spirit of giving and their commitment to the Best Buddies mission through their generous gifts of time, leadership and sponsorship. This is a unique time for Best Buddies Mountain Region as we continue to expand our programs and lay the foundation for a sustainable state office. We have made incredible progress over the last year and by reaching our goal to raise $110,000 tonight, we are one step closer to opening a local State Office and hiring additional staff to support our programs and being Jobs to this region. With an office and staff on the ground in Colorado & Utah, Best Buddies will have the capacity to develop their programs even further, including one-to-one friendship in the schools and community, integrated job opportunities and leadership development initiatives.
These programs provide individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities more opportunities to thrive and lead in their communities. As a mother to a child with IDD, it is with the utmost gratitude that I thank you for your critical support in bringing greater inclusion in the great states of Colorado & Utah. Together we are transforming one school, one company and one community at a time.
In Gratitude & Friendship,
Rachael Fischer Rachael Fischer
Director Mission Advancement for Colorado & Utah
A Quick Message from our Board Chair
Dear Friends Thank you for attending the 2021 Best Buddies Mountain Region Champion of the Year Gala! Tonight’s Gala honors the 2021 Champions that have been advancing Best Buddies’ mission throughout our community.
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The proceeds from this event will help us continue to provide programs to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Colorado and Utah. Specifically, the funds raised tonight will be focused on continuing to expand our Best Buddies Citizens Program, bringing Best Buddies Jobs to the Mountain Region, and opening additional school chapters. These programs would not be possible without the generous support of donors such as yourselves and our sponsors. Thank you for enabling Best Buddies to continue to raise awareness and increase our programmatic impact in Colorado and Utah. We look forward to continuing to grow Best Buddies in the Mountain Region with your support and generosity.
In Friendship, Collin D. Miller Advisory Board Chair
Our Sponsors
A Letter from McKenzie Merritt-Smith Hello Fellow Champion of the Year Participants, my name is McKenzie Merritt-Smith. I stand here today humbled to speak to you about what inclusion means for those with disabilities. I carry two banners; being disabled and also being Transgender. Yes, being both Transgender and disabled both have their negatives in society. However, I have turned them into double positives. I have been involved in University of Utah Best Buddies since September of this year. I look forward to many more years of great friendship. Nicole and Peach are my buddies through University of Utah. And yes, I have more then two Best Buddies. Hayley Huntsman is my Utah Citizens Buddy. All three are so totally amazing. Friendship is friendship for those with disabilities. Take away disabled people’s friends and they are socially isolated. Social isolation is a bad thing. This segregates the disabled person. That is why I have chosen to make friends at Best Buddies. I have been deeply involved in Best Buddies since 2009 when I was in college at the University of Arizona. It was my advisor who told me about a little-known program to me called Best Buddies. It was then and there that I got involved with my local college chapter at the University of Arizona. It was there that I learned social and leadership skills. This enabled me to get involved in the Ambassador Program in California in 2015. There I learned how to public speak on behalf of those with disabilities. I knew I had a disability from a very young age. However, I did not know when I was 12 that I could lead with example and dignity for those like myself. At age 12 I did know this, that I wanted to be a historian. Sadly, this did not happen because I was disabled. I would like to challenge you the friends of those with disabilities to let friendship begin anew. Please walk in the disabled person’s shoes on what it is like to be socially isolated from the world. Disabled people are often told like me that they can’t do for this world. However, I focus on what I can do. Civil Rights for those with disabilities is very important to me. I see myself as the next Rosa Parks; another pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement. Remember to “Shake It Off” when you want to make true change in this world for those with disabilities. This phrase and song ring true to me in my life. Let’s get rid of social isolation’s social segregation for those with disabilities. To do this we must;
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Close all group homes and institutions. Create a society where we enable the disabled person rather than disable them. Create more sections of Best Buddies in all 50 states of the perfect Union. End use of the “R Word.” Enroll as many disabled people in Best Buddies as possible by the end of 2039.
This is about you champions and volunteers today to help reach all these goals. One of my idols once said, “Together we can bend this arch.” Today I say to you let’s weld that arch and create “atoms of friendship.” Let ask how me can keep friendship and inclusion great for those with disabilities. Let’s level the playing field for all those with disabilities through being a change agent. We as Americans challenged each other to “A New Frontier” and landing on the Moon in 1969. Well folks if American could do this then we can do anything for the better good. I personally challenge you my fellow listeners and candidates for this year’s Champion of the Year to put your nose to the grind stone and be the change that the disabled person wishes to see in this world. Let’s plunge forward as a society to make this a better society then we found it. Thank you for hosting me today, it has been a distinct honor and privilege. McKenzie’s speaking turn is over!!
Listen to McKenzie’s speech here
The Value of Your Donation Supports Best Buddies helps form meaningful friendships, secure successful jobs, live independently, improve public speaking, self-advocacy and communications skills, all while feeling valued by society.
$5,000 • A middle school, high school, or college Chapter for a year • The cost of the room and food to host 250+ Best Buddies members to the statewide Friendship Ball
$2,500 • 10 buddy runners to participate in the ION Bank Cheshire Half Marathon or 5K or Team Best Buddies Relay $1,000 • The cost to send a Buddy to the Leadership Conference (Registration and Air) • A tent at the walk • DJ or photo booth for a statewide Best Buddies event $500 • Bus to transport a school chapter to the Friendship Walk or Friendship Ball • Registration for a buddy to attend the Leadership Conference • The cost of a flight to send a student leader to the Leadership Conference in Indiana
$350 • Citizens/Ambassador bowling party • 1 buddy runner to participate in the ION Bank Cheshire Half Marathon • The cost of buying t-shirts for a school chapter $250 • The cost to send 4 buddies to the Buddy Ball • The cost to send a buddy to the Party with a Purpose • Transportation for 2 ambassadors to give public speeches • The cost of a pizza party for a school chapter
2020 Grand Champion
Jase Roberts Congrats to our 2020 Mountain Region Champion of the Year Jase raised $12,038.52 for Best Buddies programs in Colorado & Utah
Candidates
Michael Fischer
Gaby Ardila
Bailey Arrieta
Daniel Austin
Hayley Huntsman
Kris Jex
Liz Lajoie
Shayla Levine & Shivam Talwar
Val and Mike
Baylee Morgan
Justin Olson
Patrick Reinschmidt
Amanda Stilwell
Program Speakers
Shivam Talwar
Paul Schumacher
Alexa Schild
Entertainment
How to Bid Register: Text CTCHAMPS to (76278) Donate: Text the word GIVE and amount (dollar sign not required) to (76278) *You can also bid in the silent auction once you ’ve registered
State Office Email Phone BESTBUDDIES.ORG/COLORADO