{"id":185828,"date":"2025-01-16T16:06:41","date_gmt":"2025-01-16T21:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/?p=185828"},"modified":"2025-01-16T16:16:13","modified_gmt":"2025-01-16T21:16:13","slug":"friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion","title":{"rendered":"Friendship Bracelets for Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_single_image image=”185829″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=””][vc_column_text css=””]Meet Maddie and Caroline, two students from Ashlawn Elementary School\u2019s<\/a> Best Buddies chapter who, alongside three peers, made and sold friendship bracelets and donated their earnings back to Best Buddies.<\/p>\n

The motivated group organized a neighborhood fundraiser, making friendship bracelets and encouraging community members to donate to Best Buddies<\/a> even exchanging three push-ups for a $10 donation!<\/p>\n

The philanthropic students dropped by the office to present their donation of over $200 and asked impactful questions such as, \u201cWhere does the money go?\u201d. Best Buddies staff thanked Maddie and Caroline and explained that their donation would count towards Ashlawn\u2019s 2025 Friendship Walk team<\/a>. All the funds raised from the Friendship Walk go directly back to the local community to open and maintain programs such as their friendship chapter at school.
\nMaddie, Caroline and the Ashlawn community have shown that empathy and excitement for inclusion starts at any age and continues to grow as we get more involved.<\/p>\n

We sat down with Maddie and Caroline to learn more about their Best Buddies chapter and the impact they\u2019re seeing at their school.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/strong><\/p>\n

What gave you the idea to start the friendship bracelets?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Caroline:<\/strong> \u201cWe wanted to make bracelets, and we wanted to make a cause for it and then we thought of Best Buddies because we love helping Best Buddies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maddie:<\/strong> \u201cWe knew that it was a day off, so we had a lot of people that came over and bought some. They also gave us donations, and we did it for two days.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can you tell me about your Best Buddies chapter and why you joined?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Caroline:<\/strong> Because we love playing with Best Buddies. We went to one of the people in Best Buddies\u2019 birthday party a couple of days ago, and it\u2019s because we just love hanging out with them, and we think it\u2019s a super cool organization, and we think it\u2019s very fun.<\/p>\n

Maddie:<\/strong> We love helping people and going to their activities.<\/p>\n

\"Six<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Three<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s been one of your favorite Best Buddies memories?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Caroline:<\/strong> I loved the walk because it was super fun and just hanging out with them at school is very fun, and going to their birthday parties. It\u2019s very fun to hang out with them.<\/p>\n

Maddie:<\/strong> I also love the pajama party because it was really fun, and I like the walk, and I like just hanging out with them, and birthday parties and all kinds of things.<\/p>\n

Caroline:<\/strong> At our school we had a dance that we danced with them. It was realy fun.<\/p>\n

Why do you think Best Buddies is important?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Caroline:<\/strong> It\u2019s because like everyone should be included no matter what we are because we\u2019re all humans, and we should all be able to hang out with everyone.<\/p>\n

Maddie:<\/strong> Everybody isn\u2019t the same, so we all should be kind to everybody because it\u2019s important to accept all people.<\/p>\n

What would you say to someone who is considering joining Best Buddies?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Caroline:<\/strong> That it is a very fun organization, and I think you\u2019ll have a blast!<\/p>\n

Maddie:<\/strong> It\u2019s like teaching people inclusion and kindness, and fun activities<\/p>\n

Anything else to share or add?<\/span><\/h3>\n

Caroline:<\/strong> We made $205 in two days. We didn\u2019t just sell bracelets. If they didn\u2019t want a bracelet, we\u2019d do a number of push-ups for a number of dollars, or they would just give us a donation if they saw us when they were driving by. We were making posters and saying \u201cHelp a friend and get a bracelet\u201d<\/p>\n

Maddie:<\/strong> Also we made keychains, and we made one necklace. And we made a lot over the past two days.<\/p>\n

Maddie:<\/strong> Best Buddies is very fun and I think it\u2019s a great organization.<\/p>\n

Caroline:<\/strong> I think the same, and I think that I hope it always is a program, and I hope it grows.<\/p>\n

Are you interested in joining or starting a Best Buddies Friendship chapter at your school? Click here to get started!<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/6″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Creative and generous elementary school students string together smiles!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":185829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"vadc-single-post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[504,505],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capital-region","category-capital-region-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFriendship Bracelets for Inclusion - Best Buddies International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Friendship Bracelets for Inclusion - Best Buddies International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Creative and generous elementary school students string together smiles!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Best Buddies International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T21:06:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-16T21:16:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bbva-bracelet-event-news-article-3-2025.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jeremiah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jeremiah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"jeremiah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#\/schema\/person\/8dce929426db178a0f482077614820de\"},\"headline\":\"Friendship Bracelets for Inclusion\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-16T21:06:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-16T21:16:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/\"},\"wordCount\":715,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bbva-bracelet-event-news-article-3-2025.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Capital Region\",\"Capital Region News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/\",\"name\":\"Friendship Bracelets for Inclusion - Best Buddies International\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bbva-bracelet-event-news-article-3-2025.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-16T21:06:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-16T21:16:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/vadc\/friendship-bracelets-for-inclusion\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bbva-bracelet-event-news-article-3-2025.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.bestbuddies.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/bbva-bracelet-event-news-article-3-2025.webp\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Two elementary school aged girls, Maddie and Caroline, smiling and handing a cash donation to six Best Buddies staff members. 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