GUEST POST: USF and Best Buddies Team Up for Community Service with REI Tour Partner United Way of Tampa Bay

This guest blog post is contributed by Alexia Barnes, President of the University of South Florida Chapter of Best Buddies.

People with disabilities are too often seen as charity cases and time spent with them is logged as community service hours. But on the University of South Florida’s (USF) biggest day of service, nine students with intellectual and developmental disabilities gave back to the community. Best Buddies is an international organization that provides one-on-one friendships and leadership development for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). USF’s chapter has 130 members and has provides one-on-one friendships for 29 members who have an IDD.

On Saturday January 14th, USF Best Buddies gathered with 3,000 other USF students awaiting their community service assignment. Best Buddies got assigned to the United Way of Tampa Bay, and were happy to see that they were working inside on a cold 45-degree morning. So while other clubs sodded parks or picked up trash on the side of the rode, Best Buddies put informational tax packets together for the United Way.

Our members sat side-by-side assembly-line style to put these packets together. One of our members played music for us on her phone, which provided entertainment and an opportunity for silly singing. At USF’s Best Buddies we strive to give our members the opportunity to be in a laid back setting where they aren’t being judged. At United Way, our members were able to put together 4,600 plus packets in the course of two and a half hours.

As president of USF’s Chapter of Best Buddies I get the opportunity to work with the members of my club that have IDDs on a regular basis and they have impacted my life more than they know. I couldn’t ask for a better job, and am grateful for every moment that I get to spend with this group. I have the honor to see the joy my members get when they are treated as equals in an organization that consists of 80 college students. I am inspired by the empowerment the club brings to my members. The opportunity for our club to give back to their community was one that doesn’t come often, and the joy our members felt to give back ment more to me than helping the United Way.