World's 'Best Buddies' honored at IU-hosted events

More than 1,000 people filled the seats of the IU Auditorium Saturday night, as the campus is hosting the 17th Annual leadership conference for Best Buddies, a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing lives of people with intellectual disabilities. During the night outstanding programs from high schools and colleges across then nation were honored for the work they have done in furthering the group cause. \nThe group's founder Anthony Kennedy Shriver congratulated the work of the most impressive volunteers. About 40 colleges and high schools were recognized for their work, as grants were awarded to various chapters. \nThe ceremony was just one part of the weekend-long Best Buddies conference that will conclude today. The conference offers leadership education sessions for volunteers and public speaking lessons for buddies. The leadership sessions cover items like motivation, recruitment and the overall mission of Best Buddies. \nBest Buddies is designed to improve the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-on-one friendships and integrated employment, according to its Web site. \nSpeaker Ray Ingram from the University of Texas pumped up the crowd from the beginning, as he began by asking the audience, "are you ready for fun?" \nOver the eight years that Ingram has been a buddy he said the best thing about the program is the, "many, many friends from different states and countries," he has made. The organization, created in 1989, spans six continents and 29 countries outside of the United States -- 17 of those countries had leaders attending Saturday's ceremony. \nThe highlight of the night was the piano music of Brittany Maier. Maier's talent has not only been called exceptional but also unconventional -- she is self-taught and only uses six fingers when she plays. She also has overcome the loss of her eye sight and a diagnosis of autism. And yet she has managed to succeed all expectations as doctors told her parents that she only had a 5 percent chance of living as a child. \nHer mother Tammy Maier addressed the audience before Brittany presented her own music and selections from Disney movies, Billy Joel and Jimmy Buffet. Tammy called Best Buddies an "organization far beyond description" in her introduction. \nMembers of the audience tried to put their excitement into words. "She is awesome," an audience member said and another responded, "Oh, my God!" when she played some of her own music. The crowd chanted her name, clapped and sang along with the music and rose to standing ovations several times. \nMolly Noble of Indianapolis, a 3-year-old buddy from the Marion College chapter, said the show was great and she was happy to have attended the conference.\nThe crowd could not get enough of Maier and persuaded her with cheers of encouragement to do an encore performance. A handful of buddies, including Noble, and students from the audience gathered on stage to sing toward the end. Bodies swayed in unison and\nvoices climbed in song to "A \nWhole New World" \nfrom "Aladdin." \nAt one point Tammy made the crowd aware of a personal favorite of the Vice President of Programs & State Development David Quilleon. Brittany played "Coming to America" for Quilleon who was talked into singing, which he did, switching up the lines at times by saying conference instead of America. The crowd roared with laughter and cheers of approval. \nThe highly contagious smiles, laughter and overall good feelings of Saturday night are a common part of the Best Buddies experience, said IU Buddy Director Alexandria Willhardt. \n"At first I did it for a class but after I got to know my buddy it became something increasingly important to me," she said. "It really is like a normal friendship." Willhardt has learned many things because of the program and is hoping to see more IU students involved with Best Buddies. IU had 12 pairs -- a volunteer and a buddy making a pair -- last year, while a smaller school like Purdue University had about 60. \nSarah Baldini, who is involved with Best Buddies at the state level, said she knows there is great potential in Bloomington, which she called a "civic-minded" area. \n"The conference has been coming here for four years, and we're so proud to bring over 1,000 students to IU," she said. "We really want it to be a showcase for the wonderful program here in Bloomington, and we're looking forward to expanding and getting the word out to all the IU students about what an amazing program this is." \nIU students interested in volunteering with Best Buddies can contact Alexandria Willhardt at awillhar@indiana.edu.