There’s no better way to start friendships than with pizza. Trinity members of Best Buddies did just that when they met some new friends for the first time at Clifton’s Pizza on Oct. 8. The Rocks’ first-year Best Buddies chapter gives Trinity students the opportunity to become friends with individuals who have autism.

The atmosphere at Clifton’s was relaxed and casual. Once everyone arrived, the students began socializing, having a good time while enjoying pizza and soda.

The Best Buddies program, founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, is a nonprofit organization involved with about 1,900 schools around the world. Trinity English teacher Mr. Rob Seng moderates the Trinity chapter. He decided to get involved with Best Buddies because of a personal connection.

Seng said, “What drew me to this club was that I have a son with Asperger’s, so when he comes of age, this is definitely a club that I’d want him to be involved in.”

Seng spoke of the value Best Buddies provides for Trinity. He said, “It is a club that falls in line with the Christian principles that we try to impart upon students here at Trinity — to do as Christ would do. Whether you are Catholic or not, this is all about reaching out to people in the margins, who are ignored, and sometimes not through fault of their own but because of the nature of autism. They just may be very socially awkward or socially introverted, and we are trying to bring them out of their shell. Hopefully, it will lead to a greater understanding of what autism really is.”

The club is casual, giving members the freedom to choose how often they want to meet with their buddy. “We want the minimum to be twice a month,” Seng said. “What we’d like to do is touch base with email or social media, but try and do something person-to-person at least once a month. How often they decide they want to meet is totally up to them.”      

Joining the club is easy, but Seng emphasized that students should not join just to accumulate service hours. He said, “You’re doing this because you are genuinely interested. There will be events throughout the year that you could earn service hours for. But a lot of students have just joined because they are interested in working with an autistic peer.”

Trinity junior Ryan Cardwell is the student leader for Best Buddies and approached Seng about getting Trinity involved in the program.

“I’ve been involved with Best Buddies for a little while now. My mother has always been on the statewide board for the program,” Cardwell said. “I brought it to Trinity because I am really passionate about this program.”

Cardwell does have experience with Best Buddies, but “not so much with the high school program that we are running.” Cardwell said Best Buddies is important to him because “I’ve met some really awesome people through Best Buddies — people who do have intellectual and developmental disabilities that have overcome it with Best Buddies and have gone on great journeys, as well as the people who want to help them along the way.”

Brendan McNickle has been working with Best Buddies since 2011, starting at Best Buddies Maryland. He has been the program supervisor for Best Buddies Kentucky for about six months and is directly responsible for six school chapters. McNickle looks for ways to continue developing Best Buddies and their goals. He said, “It can be all hands on deck for statewide events, fundraising efforts. It is about supporting the programs we already have in place, thinking strategically about expansion, and supporting our fundraising efforts to make sure that we can continue to grow.”

McNickle emphasized the purpose of Best Buddies: “We are serving a very noble purpose: to create friendships for people who might not have a lot of friendships. The whole force that is driving Best Buddies is to just have fun together — to take the focus off your differences completely and just do things that you would like to do with your friends anyways.”

Joining Best Buddies after working at a healthcare IT firm, McNickle said, “I wasn’t invested in getting better at (the IT firm). I knew I wanted something more rewarding.” After four years with Best Buddies, he feels it is “really fun, rewarding work — very challenging.”

McNickle has learned a great deal working with the organization. “It has taught me to have a lot of faith in young people,” he said. “Our programs are student-run, so the goal is to get students to take ownership and run the show. It is incredibly encouraging.”

McNickle also says that he has learned about patience, empathy and serving people with challenges. He enjoys seeing relationships between buddies develop over time: “The delayed gratification and dedication it takes is incredible.”

The effects of being part of Best Buddies is very real to Cardwell. “It really makes you open your eyes and see everything about a person. One specific quality doesn’t make the whole person,” he said. “It’s all about a message for inclusion and acceptance for who you are, no matter what your situation is.”

Check out some videos of the Best Buddies group meeting at Clifton’s on Oct. 8.

videos by Michael Hellinger