Someone in Skokie Needs a Friend Like You!

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Do the things you already love to do, and help to enrich the life of someone with an intellectual disability by simply being a friend!

We are in need of adult volunteers (18 and older) in the Chicago area & surrounding suburbs to befriend a member of your community who has an intellectual or developmental disability!

Every volunteer in our program is matched in a one-to-one casual friendship with a "Buddy," an adult who has an intellectual or developmental disability. Buddy Pairs are matched on similar interests, similar age, same gender, and live within 10 miles of each other. The matches commit to speaking once a week and getting together for once or twice each month. These outings can be anything from attending group events, to meeting for coffee, to watching a Bears game on a Sunday - it's up to you!

How will your friendship make a difference in the life of someone with an intellectual disability?

You will offer immediate chances for more social interaction, which is an antidote to loneliness -Important

The Buddy will learn social skills which increase the chance of making friends on their own -Important

The buddy will also learn about communal edifices (bus routes, movie schedules, happy hour) -Very Important

Finally, you will be a part of the stimulus for broad-based social change -Most Important

Stereotypes dissolve in the face of experience, and stereotypes persist because people with disabilities are largely unseen. Help us change this reality, simply by being a friend.