Inland Empire Bash!

It's $15 at the door!

The event will be indoors and it is from 7-10pm.

See you there!

A few more pictures from the Bash!

Diana Jordan


Stretching before the walk. Thanks Jane for leading!


Great music, and having fun dancing!

Soccer Game and Inland Bash!

Here are two events during Spring break. I hope that this email is not too much of a late notice. I honestly just got this information. Now, enjoy!!!

Soccer Game!
Date: Friday, March 31, 2006
Time: 9am to 12pm (you can come and leave any time)
What: Project TEAM Special Olympic Soccer Game
Location: 3044 Horace Street, Riverside, Ca.
Place: California School for the Deaf at the soccer field. You can park in any empty parking spot by the gym which is right across from the soccer field.

Directions from UCR (I actually went there):
-take 91West
-exit Arlington keep straight until you reach Arlington
-make a left on Arlington
-make a right on Horace
-make a right on small street Cubs
-go straight on Cubs and you will see the soccer field

Inland Bash!
Date: Friday, March 31, 2006
Time: Evening, probably 6pm. I will post the time on our website when I get it. Our website is www.best-buddies-riverside.blogspot.com
What: Magical Evening Under the Stars Bash (You and your buddy may come dressed up according to this theme)
Location: 2064 Orange Tree Lane, Redlands, CA 92374
Place: West Pavilion
Price: $15/person at the door

Directions from UCR I got from Mapquest
-215 North (for 7 miles)
-Merge onto 10 East (for 4 miles)
-Take the California Street Exit
-Left on California Street
-Right on Orange Tree Lane

Around 200 other people will be there! All of California Best Buddies Staff will be there too! There will be a DJ and the Jose Mexican Restaurant is hosting the food. I don't know if the event is indoors or outdoors. I will post that information on the website when I find out.

Have a great vacation!

Chillin with Jason

Hey Everyone!

I just hung out with Jason yesterday and we went to Riverside Plaza to watch The Pink Panther. I picked up Jason and we got to the theater with a bit of time to spare. We relaxed and chatted about the usual things. We talked about music, basketball, and of course... GIRLS! We talked about the NCAA basketball tournament. It's Jason's favorite thing to watch on TV these days. Jason also told me that things are going quite well between him and his girlfriend. Woo hoo! Go Jason!

We had more time to spare so we went to the arcade in the theater. I asked Jason if he ever played Dance Dance Revolution, an arcade dance game. He said he hadn't and he didn't intend to start. We all know that Jason has crazy dance skills from the January Dance Party at Anna's house anyways. We ended up playing a comic book based "shoot em up" game. We didn't last too long and we were killed by a wall with spikes that moved right into us. We then decided to race each other. At the start of the race I got ahead of Jason. Then I got cocky and slammed my car into a wall on a sharp turn. Jason overtook me. I eventually caught up again nd I couldn't help trying to ram Jason's car off the road. Jason evaded me and I ended up smashed up against a wall while he sped ahead. Needless to say, Jason won the race and we shook hands with laughter and sportsmanship.

Soon it was time for the movie. Steve Martin played the Pink Panther detective. Jason and I found many things to laugh at in the movie. Jason was soo excited that Beyonce was in the flim. The funniest part was when Steve Martin's character, who had a french accent, was trying to say the word "hamburger". You kinda have to see it yourelf. After the movie i took Jason home. It was a good time and I never get tired of hearing Jason say one of his favorite phrases, "Be Easy!!" I told Jason that he's starting a trend because I started to use the phrase and my other friends are tarting to catch on too. Hanging out with Jason was a great way to end Winter Quarter!

- Kevin Izquierdo

March 4th Bash Pictures!

Updates!

Happy St. Patrick's Day to all of you! Don't get pinched today....

It's great to know that Timothy Fewkes from Project Team signed up for e buddies! Also, let's welcome our two newest members to our club, college buddies Joon Nam and Ben Torres!

We have three open college buddy positions! We are looking for people who are able to meet up with their buddies on the weekdays at Project TEAM because these buddies are hard to reach and cannot go out on weekends. Please email us with your interest.

Also, if there are any ideas for events or fundraisers, please feel free to email us anytime. Your opinion is important to us.

We hope that everyone liked their t-shirts. We still have some extra ones left and we will give them out next quarter until we run out. We apologize about our decision to make the t-shirts light blue instead of red as we voted. The cost of buying red shirts was not in our budget to give you all free t-shirts.

We were informed that there will be a Bash during our Spring Break in the Inland Empire. We will give you details on that later. It will not be an official event because it will be during Spring Break, but we are letting you know in case you are interested.

For college buddies, please call your buddies during the break. We thank all of you (college buddies) for responding to Friendship Updates (it helps us out so much). If you have not been spending time with your buddy, please make sure that you can commit from now until June and also complete the friendship updates. We are going to become strict on our requirements now because we have been receiving some complaints from buddies' parents. Please let us know (as soon as possible) if you cannot fulfill your responsibility as a college buddy so we can make the rematches (since we only have a few more months left until June). We realize that you are all volunteers, and we appreciate you very much, but please remember the commitment you have made to another person.

Good luck on finals!

Sincerely,

Best Buddies~Providing Opportunities

Active Members of February~!

College Buddy Pair: Brian Ngo and Charles Beard!

From the first day we met Brian at our Intellectual Ability Awareness Training, we knew that there was something special about this warm college buddy. He has been buddies with Charles since October and we know the great lengths that Brian goes to make sure his buddy makes it to events. The one on one activities that Brian and Charles participate in include playing video games, watching television at Charles' house, and celebrating Charles' birthday in February! We can see from the way Brian interacts with Charles at the Spaghetti Factory Matching Party that there is a very special sort of friendship between them. Just seeing Brian and Charles together at the March bash, the gigantic smiles on both of their faces, and their one to one exploration of the USC campus, we know that they set a great example of a friendship without boundaries. As you can tell, these people are deeply enriching each others lives! Brian has participated in activities this year, including the January Dance, selling Valentine Cards, the Matching Party, the Martin Luther King Run, the March Bash, and a majority of our meetings.


Charles Beard has been active with Best Buddies for a few years. He has always been a very charismatic person, but it was not until this school year that we see Charles so happy and sociable! The reason? Brian has made such a positive impact on Charles....It is unbelievable! Charles has participated in the December Dance of 2004 and the June 2005 Santa Monica Beach Trip. At the recent January dance, he really surprised us with his dancing skills, not to mention the beat boxing lessons he gave us during the recent Friendship Walk.

You two exemplify a type of friendship that fulfills the purpose of the mission of Best Buddies, and with that, we are very grateful that we have a college buddy who is so patient and a buddy who is so sweet.

Associate Member of February: Robert Karras!

It is such a pleasure to recognize one of our newest members, Robert Karras, as the active member of February! Robert became an official member in February, but he's already been to our January Dance and February Basketball Game. We really have to thank Robert again for securing a business donation of $400, which helped us a lot in achieving our goal of raising at least $1000 for the March Bash. Robert also really wanted to go to the March Bash, but could not attend due to employment that day. Thank you Robert for everything you do!

Remember at the end of the year we will pick the college buddy, buddy, and associate member of the year! We will only be picking from the pool of active members that we recognize every month.

Having a BLAST at the BASH!

The final group event of this quarter was fantastic! We all had a long day at USC, but it was a day packed with events.

First event of the day: the 5K Friendship Walk.

To start everyone off, we had a special guest, Diana Jordan, give an inspirational speech about her achievements as a person with a disability. Diana is a professional actress who also speaks on disability rights and diversity casting. She reminded us all to “Keep trying, keep climbing, and keep reaching for [our] dreams!”

Before we started our walk, Jane Hon from our very own Project Team helped Best Buddies staff lead the group in stretches! Then, our impressive chapter went on the Friendship Walk together. It was a beautiful day for a walk around USC’s campus!

After the walk, lunch was served, and we had the opportunity to meet other local chapters at their activity/game booths. Thanks to Sara Phung and AmeriCorps for helping us with our booth! We all enjoyed our sandwiches, courtesy of Subway, while the Buddies were winning prizes, singing karaoke, and jumping on the moon bounce.

Amidst the excitement, Void 808 and Sputnik Monroe rocked out on stage, a dance troupe performed, and dogs impressed us with their Frisbee tricks. The Buddies loved showing us their dance moves.

At the end of the day, awards were presented. We found out that we were one of two organizations that raised over $1000 dollars, and missed the top amount raised by less than $50. That honor went to Beverly Hills High; the school raised $1100.

We really have to thank Robert Karras again for securing a business donation of $400, which helped us a lot in achieving our goal of raising at least $1000. Thanks also goes out to Andrew Pham (CB), Brian Ngo (CB), Selina Tam (CB), La Quesha Robinson (Associate), Christopher Rivera (Associate), Timothy Fewkes (Buddy),Rachel Contreras (Buddy), Josh Ridder (Buddy), and Trent Haas (Buddy) for collecting pledges. Every little bit helped, and the combined forces of this group of individuals raised almost $250!

Then our program manager, Becky Boatwright, recognized outstanding chapters for honors like Most Improved and College Buddy Pair of the Year. U.C. Riverside was recognized for

College Chapter of the Year!!

A special thanks to our CBD, Anna for leading a strong chapter.

But the real thank you goes out to all our members.

It is really the commitment of our members that made us College Chapter of the Year. Only a handful of colleges were there, and UCR definitely had the strongest showing with thirty members attending. So an extra thanks to everyone who made the trip out to L.A. and representing U.C. Riverside at its finest:

Anna Nguyen (College Buddy Director)

Sara Phung (Membership Coordinator)
    & 3 of her AmeriCorps colleagues

Nina Grewal (e-Buddies Coordinator)

Stephanie Do (Treasurer)

Jenny Tan

Miriam Torres

Brian Ngo

Kevin Izquierdo

Mohammad Abdel-al

Lars Knutstad

Christopher Rivera

Janette Rodriguez

Marisol Sanchez

Elizabeth Reyes

Erin Wong

Selina Tam & 2 of her guests

Buddies

Hugo Rosales

Timothy Fewkes

Robert Sweetwater

Charles Beard

Joshua Ridder

Andrea Sultan

Stacey Box

Jane Hon

Tomas Cruz (alumnus)

Pictures to be posted soon!