You’ve got a friend in Best Buddies.

The program pairs Eastern students with people with intellectual disabilities for the academic year to establish friendships.

After four years of being in the program, Kelly Diekemper, a senior communications disorder and sciences major, said the buddy she has had for three years is more than just a friend.

“She’s like family to me, I miss her when I don’t see her for awhile,” Diekemper said.

Diekemper is the associate director for the non-profit organization, where the goal is to give back to the community and establish friendships.

The 50 student buddies are required to contact their buddies once a week and take them out once a month over the course of the yearlong program.

The buddies have mild to moderate intellectual disabilities and live in group homes in the area, some of which are through the Charleston Transitional Facility.

The group also holds monthly social outings on campus, where members are encouraged to socialize with others.

Ellen Lacher, a senior special education major and Best Buddies director, described the organization as a method of extending the circle of friends an intellectually disabled individual has.

“Our goal is to fill that last circle so they have larger social network,” Lacher said.

A night to remember

Under the bright lights of a disco ball and with carefully assembled outfits, detailed down to the matching pink nail polish or cowboy hat, members of the Best Buddies program took to the dance floor Saturday evening.

A formal dinner took place on campus as part of Best Buddies Month last March. However, this year the event coordinators moved it off campus to further the movement to connect the group and the community.

Ben Johnson, a junior elementary education major, and his buddy, Brett Hackett, spent the beginning of the night playing bingo for donated prizes, teasing each other with the ease of a comfortable friendship.

They chatted about the upcoming dance, Hackett bragging about his moves, as people walking by stopped to compliment him saying, “he looks good.”

Loretta Phillips, a manager at the Miller’s Banquet Hall, helped coordinate the event, which provided the location free of charge.

“There’s not enough of this for them,” Phillips said.

The Millers Banquet Hall, along with What’s Cookin’ and a disc jockey, volunteered their services to the group free of charge.

Lacher said besides helping to foster community interaction, the event provides a social atmosphere.

“(We) make it all about them for a night,” Lacher said.

And while neither Johnson nor Hackett know who ended up winning the dance competition, both of them know the value of a friend.

“You meet a ton of nice people,” Hackett said.

Spreading the word

Best Buddies will team up with the Special Olympics March 31 to stop the use of the word “retarded” to demean others.

Lacher has seen the negative effect of the word on people close to her, growing up with a neighbor who had mental disabilities.

“If I can advocate for them I will do it in a heartbeat,” Lacher said.

Members of Best Buddies will be on the quad asking people to pledge to stop using the word for the Spread the Word to End the Word campaign and instead use “person first language.”

“Call someone by who they are, rather than their disability,” Lacher said.

Emily Steele can be reached at 581-7942 or easteele2@eiu.edu.

Brett Hackett dances with another member of the Best Buddies program at the second annual formal dinner on Saturday in the Miller Banquet Hall.(Emily Steele/The Daily Eastern News)

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