September 2023 Special Needs Living Akron/Canton

An Event Celebrating Our Local Down Syndrome Community! The Canton Area Buddy Walk!

On September 9th the Canton Area Buddy Walk will be celebrating our local Down syndrome community and we’d love to have you join us! We are thrilled to once again use the beautiful facilities and all-abilities playground at Dogwood Park in North Canton. Included in your event-day registration will be a light lunch, Kona Ice, music and several activities to enjoy with your family and friends. Some have described this local fundraiser as a “family reunion” day for the Down syndrome community - a time to reconnect with families you haven’t seen for a while and a chance to meet and make connections with new families. Mostly the day is a time to celebrate our loved ones with Down syndrome, a chance to shout their value and worth, and an opportunity to enjoy this community of people all connected by that little extra chromosome.

Since its inception in 1995, the Buddy Walk® has become “the world’s most widely recognized public awareness program for the Down syndrome community” (NDSS.org). More than 250 local Buddy Walk® events take place each year, most of them occurring in September and October. The National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) is the founding organization behind the Buddy Walk and they now host the New York City Buddy Walk® along with the Times Square Video presentation. This hour-long jumbotron video showcases a diverse group of 500 individuals with Down syndrome - it’s a big, bold way to show the world how beautiful the Down syndrome community is!

All local registered Buddy Walks give back a portion of their raised funds each year to the NDSS so they can continue their work in providing resources from prenatal diagnosis through aging and end-oflife care (and all the beautiful times in between). NDSS’s mission is “to empower individuals with Down syndrome and their families by driving policy change, providing resources, engaging with local communities, and shifting public perceptions.”

The Canton Area Buddy Walk is a registered NDSS event and is privileged to be able to give a percentage of our fundraising back to support the incredible work they are doing. However, most of the money raised will stay local to the greater Canton area. So when you give, you are supporting those with Down syndrome right here in NorthEast Ohio. In the past, fundraising from the Canton Area Buddy Walk has been able to provide adoption assistance, family support, and give back to GiGi’s Playhouse Canton so they can continue to offer their services and programming for free. And we look forward to doing more of that this year! Want to get involved? Visit our website https/ www.ds-stride.org/cantonareabuddywalk to get started!