BBME Friendship Walk 2022 WE THANK YOU! You’re making a difference for Best Buddies in Maine.
Cape Elizabeth High School Chapter
A Message From Our State Director
The growing team at Best Buddies in Maine extend our deepest appreciation to our wonderful participants, families, volunteers, donors, and corporate partners for such a successful 2022! Your support and dedication to our mission helps our programs grow, creating more inclusive communities throughout the state.
Thank you again for your support, and here’s to continued growth in 2023! We can’t wait for the year ahead.
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Rebecca Williams & Tuckey Conley
BBME Champion of the Year Gala 2022
Here’s what we accomplished. We had a year of tremendous growth for our programs!
4 ONE-TO-ONE Friendship Programs 27 ACTIVE CHAPTERS 5 Elementary Schools 5 Middle Schools 9 High Schools 5 Colleges 3 Citizen Chapters 464 TOTAL Thanks to your support, we have expanded programming from Biddeford to Bangor! PARTICIPANTS
Meet Our Students: Bryant & Xanda
"Bryant Lindsey and Xanda MerrillParks were paired in October this year. This is the first year of the program in our district, so the boys have only been paired for a month. When they first met, their love of video games made them connect instantly. Xanda comes down a few times a week to have lunch with his best buddy and to create video games together on Friday afternoons. Once a month, they participate in our school's best buddy activities like holiday baking, outdoor soccer games, and more to come. We know it's a match because Xanda comes down in between classes just to say ‘Hi, have a good day.'"
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- Megan Rogers, Faculty Advisor for BB Chapter at Bonny Eagle MS
6 Meet Our Citizens: Gabe & Abby Special thanks to No Umbrella Media for this “Mission Moment.” Scan the QR code below with your phone camera or visit the No Umbrella website to learn more about our Citizens program.
BB Maine Staff Growth 4
BBME STAFF MEMBERS
In 2022, the Best Buddies in Maine staff grew by 300%...
…and with our programming growing each day, we’re planning to add new staff members to the team in 2023 to help us expand our community northwards!
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In July, student leaders both with and without IDD from all over Maine attended our 31st Annual Best Buddies Leadership Conference in Boston! They participated in personalized trainings to develop the skills needed to lead a Best Buddies chapter. This year, we’ll be traveling to LC all the way in Indiana!
9 $48,070.54 Over 300 participants, corporate partners and community members walked for inclusion! And this year, we’re expanding to TWO walks in Portland and Bangor! At our 2022 Friendship Walk, we raised…
Our Champion of the Year Gala raised $211,944.87
fundraising candidates. Our
raised over $40,000!
Over 400 supporters came together for our annual Champion of the Year Gala, where we celebrated the collective efforts of our 8
winning Champion, high school student Lauren Weber,
BBME:
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2022
Review Our BBME community experienced so much growth this year, but looking back only makes us MORE excited for 2023! For a video wrap-up of our year, scan the QR code below.
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We can’t thank you enough for your support of BBME!
Together, we’ll continue to spread the mission of inclusion and friendship across Maine. Find us at Best Buddies Maine or @bestbuddiesme on social media, and visit our website at
BESTBUDDIES.ORG/MAINE.