By CHRISTINE BUCHHOLZ

Guest Reporter

Some are familiar with Best Buddies, a Creighton organization dedicated to pairing a disabled community member with a Creighton college buddy, but most are not.

Chances are that even if you were familiar with Best Buddies a short while ago, you would not be able to recognize the group now.

Under the direction of Creighton senior Ashly Moore, the new College Buddy director, much has changed.

Creighton’s Best Buddies chapter has grown significantly over the past two years, providing both Creighton students and members of Ollie Webb Center, Inc., an orgnization that focuses on individuals with developmental disabilities and Opus Hall’s community partner, with a chance to reach out and make new friends.

Best Buddies pairs one college student with an intellectually disabled member of the community with the two becoming buddies who meet throughout the year, Moore said. Different functions are held to give the pairs a chance to get to know one another.

Carrie Bonsutto, technical coordinator for the organization, said it’s crucial the “people with physical, cognitive and social disabilities have someone to rely on as a friend aside from their family and care providers.”

Within the last two years, the buddy pairs in the Creighton organization have almost doubled, rising from 26 pairs two years ago to 50 pairs now. The increase in buddy pairs has allowed more people with intellectual disabilities to participate in constructive friendships, Moore said.

Moore said this is the main goal of the organization. More and more members of the Ollie Webb Center, Inc. are becoming interested in the Best Buddies program. In fact, the Creighton chapter is having a hard time matching the number of people interested Ollie Webb members.

“There are more buddies than college buddies,” Moore said.

But, as a sophomore, Nicole Eggers, membership coordinator for Best Buddies, said in an e-mail interview, Moore is cracking down on student commitment and trying to make it so the friendships formed are of high quality.

“[Ashly] is really amazing at being outgoing and talking to everyone sincerely,” Eggers said.

“Her enthusiasm for the program gets everyone excited,” Bonsutto said.

The main duty of the College Buddy director is to make sure everyone is having a good time and communicating well, Moore said.

With these increasingly successful buddy relationships, the next step is to increase the number of helpful friendships.

“We are recruiting new members more,” Moore said.

Soon, more members of the Ollie Webb Center, Inc. will have Creighton buddies.

“I just want to make sure everyone is having a good time,” Moore said.