Becoming buddies for life

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Cody Calcutt (left) with his buddy Scott Beattie at the St. James Bowling Lanes. ( WAYNE.GLOWACKI@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

Cody Calcutt and Scott Beattie hang out together, play video games, watch movies and go bowling.

"We have a lot of fun together," Cody, 15, said recently, shortly before rolling a bowling ball down an alley at St. James Bowling Lanes.

"It's hard because I'm in Grade 12 this year, but we try to get together as much as we can," said the 18-year-old Scott.

What the pair does is really no different from what thousands of Canadian teens do on a daily basis across the country.

They're best buddies. And it's thanks to Best Buddies.

Best Buddies is a national charitable program with a goal of creating friendships between students with intellectual disabilities and other students. It runs as a student-run friendship club with help from the national office and local teacher advisors.

The organization began in the United States in 1989, when Anthony Kennedy Shriver -- whose uncles are John, Robert and Edward Kennedy and whose mother Eunice Kennedy Shriver founded Special Olympics -- realized in university that his fellow students could volunteer to help students with special needs.

The organization's first Canadian chapter opened in 1993 and now there are chapters across the country, including Manitoba.

Cody, who has autism, has been matched with Scott through the Best Buddies program at Sturgeon Heights Collegiate.

Scott said the school requires students to do volunteerism, but that's not why he joined Best Buddies or why he has stayed.

"I thought this was an awesome way to do it because it can benefit people," he said.

"And you can keep it going to have it be more meaningful.

"I've done other volunteer things, but this has been the most enjoyable."

That friendship between the two teenagers is exactly what national executive director Steven Pinnock and local program coordinator Elizabeth Catacutan are hoping to facilitate.

"There are 250 schools across Canada that are part of Best Buddies -- high schools, seven elementary schools, colleges and universities," Pinnock said.

"I'm in the midst of writing a proposal for funding to get into more elementary schools. They understand what volunteerism is all about and they'll get a better understanding of people with disabilities at a younger age."

Pinnock said he knows of one family, with a child who is non-verbal, that owned a cottage for years, but the first time a child without special needs came there with their kid was because of Best Buddies.

Pinnock said Best Buddies has received help locally through grants from The Winnipeg Foundation.

"It doesn't take much for high school kids to be part of the program -- they can just hang out and listen to music together.

"We get lots of letters from people who say they decided to change their career path and go to help people with disabilities because of Best Buddies."

Pinnock said 50,000 students have been part of the program since it began.

Catacutan said the program starts in schools with awareness meetings to encourage volunteers to come forward. The organization gives the fledgling school program $75 for help pay for supplies and help with the first event or help spark a first fundraiser.

Catacutan said then special needs students, called buddy advocates, are matched with the other students.

"If they were part of the program last year we re-match them with that student. We try to meet with the grade nines and tens at schools to get the longevity in the program."

Catacutan said some of the strongest supporters of the program are the parents of the students with special needs.

Cody's parents, Joe and Judy, only have positive things to say about Best Buddies.

Joe said his son is part of organizations that deal with people with special needs -- and his son has made friends in those programs -- but Best Buddies is the only one that helps him connect with students without special needs.

"It makes them feel accepted at school with the other kids," Joe said.

"It makes them feel they're part of the school system and accepted by society. The other kids also get exposure to the kids with special needs so they are not afraid.

"It's also a good mentoring system. It teaches all of the kids to respect each other."

"Best Buddies is awesome," Judy said.

"It lets (Cody) go out with somebody. I was really happy when it came to the school."

In fact, Cody is so thrilled with the Best Buddies program it has actually helped change his academic direction: he's planning to transfer to Sturgeon Heights next year from his current school, John Taylor Collegiate, even though he knows his buddy will soon graduate and head to university.

"It will be nice to see my buddy in the building," Cody said.

"But I'm going to look into Best Buddies at university -- and I'll still see Cody," Scott said.

"We'll still get together."

Sounds like the pair will be best buddies for some time to come.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Ways to help Best Buddies:

To set up a chapter of Best Buddies at your school or to send a charity donation, call the organization's head office at 1-888-779-0061 or email info@bestbuddies.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 30, 2011 B4