Fostering friendship

Peer buddy Lacey Haynes with Michael Maloney, left, and Helen Poulos, right.

The huge grins and enthusiastic dance moves made it obvious how much fun the Best Buddies were having at the Grawood one Sunday afternoon last month.

Best Buddies is a program that pairs a person with an intellectual disability with a Dalhousie student volunteer. Mostly, the friends hang out with each other, but they also attend big group events such as the one at the Grawood.

“Every month we have events—we go to hockey games, dance parties, bingos,” says Lacey Haynes, an executive of the Best Buddies Dalhousie chapter and the program coordinator for Nova Scotia and P.E.I.. Founded in the U.S. in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver (of the Kennedy clan), the Best Buddies program in Canada has grown to more than 100 Best Buddies chapters at high schools and universities.

“My buddy really likes going for coffee,” said Nick Aikins, 21, a peer buddy to Michael Maloney.

With a vigorous shake of his head and a beaming smile, Mr. Maloney expresses his enthusiasm for their regular Tuesday night coffee break at Tim Hortons on Quinpool Road.

“There are a lot of simple pleasures, you know, things like riding around on the bus to just going for walks or being there for a conversation,” explains Mr. Aikins.

He recommends students think about volunteering as a buddy: “It’s a very rewarding and eye-opening experience to have. It’s really humbling and grounding because it shows you that a lot of the trivialities you deal with everyday are exactly that, trivialities. There are so many simple, beautiful things in life that are far more important than a lot of the things we concern ourselves with.”

But the Best Buddy program isn’t for everyone, cautions Ms. Haynes. “It’s a big commitment. You are committing yourself to a person who’s going to depend on you and look up to you.”

To get involved with Best Buddies, write Lacey Haynes at bestbuddies@dal.ca. The society is recruiting volunteers for September.