{"id":172856,"date":"2023-06-08T08:16:32","date_gmt":"2023-06-08T12:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/?p=172856"},"modified":"2023-06-12T14:53:13","modified_gmt":"2023-06-12T18:53:13","slug":"best-buddies-in-minnesota-hosts-annual-friendship-ball-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/minnesota\/walk-raises-funds-for-minnesota-programs","title":{"rendered":"2023 Friendship Walk raises over $96,000 for Minnesota Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\">[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]The Best Buddies Minnesota Friendship Walk raised over $96,000 for inclusion! We had over 600 amazing walkers raise funds and awareness to support our one-to-one friendship and leadership development programs in Minnesota. This walk wouldn\u2019t have been possible without the support of our sponsors: Abdo, Speech Remedies LLC, BlueCross BlueShield Minnesota, Burns McDonnell, Finley\u2019s, First Light Asset Management, Fortune Financial, General Mills, Health Partners Park Nicollet, i4cp, Land O\u2019Lakes, Minnesota Vikings, Olson, Clough, &amp; LeBlanc, Parables at Wayzata Community Church, and Ryan Companies. We also are grateful to Corner Balloon Shoppe, JonnyPops, General Mills, Cub Foods, Old Dutch, Caribou Coffee, and Culvers who donated in-kind goods to support this event.<\/p>\n<p>These funds enable us to continue supporting our 28 school friendship chapters and our two community adult friendship programs and help us welcome new chapters this upcoming fall. These programs build one-to-one friendships between people with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), offering social interactions while improving the quality of life and level of inclusion for a population that is often isolated and excluded. Through their participation, people with IDD form meaningful connections with their peers, gain self-confidence and self-esteem, and share interests, experiences, and activities that many other individuals enjoy \u2013 from elementary school through adulthood!<\/p>\n<h5><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-172857\" src=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/2023-BBMN-Friendship-Walk-Participants.webp\" alt=\"Friendship Walk Participants\" width=\"1200\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/2023-BBMN-Friendship-Walk-Participants.webp 1200w, https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/2023-BBMN-Friendship-Walk-Participants-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/2023-BBMN-Friendship-Walk-Participants-150x79.webp 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/>Photos Captured by Colton Otte of Blue G Productions and Shari Fleming and Alex Crnobrna of Shari Fleming Photography<\/h5>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/195034110@N07\/albums\/72177720308487999\" class=\"hb-button hb-default hb-default-button no-three-d\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"-webkit-border-radius: 2px;-moz-border-radius: 2px;border-radius: 2px;\"><i class=\"icon-chevron-right\"><\/i>View All Photos<\/a>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Top 5 Walkers raised $8,268!<\/strong><br \/>\nElizabeth Neuville \u2013 $4,016<br \/>\nAjani (AJ) Lewis-McGhee \u2013 $1,370<br \/>\nGabrielle Granger \u2013 $1,212<br \/>\nAudrey Hauser \u2013 $870<br \/>\nMichael Tankenoff \u2013 $800<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Top 5 School Teams<\/strong><br \/>\nMinnetonka Middle School West \u2013 $5,752<br \/>\nUniversity of Minnesota \u2013 $2,835<br \/>\nMounds View High School \u2013 $1,490<br \/>\nMinnetonka High School \u2013 $1,145<br \/>\nEastview Best Buddies \u2013 $630<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Top 5 Community Teams<\/strong><br \/>\nElizabeth\u2019s Exciting Buddies \u2013 $4,376<br \/>\nParables Pals \u2013 $4,330<br \/>\nTeam Ava \u2013 $3,342<br \/>\nBeyond Limits \u2013 $1,570<br \/>\nCamille\u2019s Crew \u2013 $1,522<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Top 5 Corporate Teams<\/strong><br \/>\nInPursuit Executive Search \u2013 $1,225<br \/>\nGeneral Mills Disability Network \u2013 $1,050<br \/>\nTeam Finley\u2019s \u2013 $985<br \/>\nTeam Abdo \u2013 $905<br \/>\nSpeech Remedies LLC \u2013 $840<\/p>\n<p>Thank you again to our friends, walkers, followers, sponsors, donors, and volunteers who helped us continue to create change and spread our mission of inclusion![\/vc_column_text][vc_gallery interval=&#8221;3&#8243; images=&#8221;172859,172860,172861,172862&#8243; img_size=&#8221;full&#8221;][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Best Buddies in Minnesota hosted its annual Friendship Walk celebrating inclusion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2080,"featured_media":172858,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"mn-single-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1603,1605],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-minnesota","category-minnesota-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - 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