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!