White Fence Living
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White Fence Living
Buddy Up For Life: Creating Inclusive Programming for Down Syndrome
Beth's journey from retail executive to nonprofit founder illustrates the extraordinary power of addressing a need in your own family and watching it transform the lives of hundreds. When her three-and-a-half-year-old son Will, who has Down syndrome, wanted to learn tennis like his older brother, Beth discovered a profound lack of consistent programming for individuals with developmental disabilities. What began as a weekend clinic has flourished into Buddy Up for Life, a national organization with over 20 chapters serving more than 800 individuals with Down syndrome and engaging approximately 1,800 volunteers.
The magic of Buddy Up lies in its one-to-one pairing system, matching each athlete or student with a dedicated volunteer buddy. These relationships often evolve into meaningful friendships that address a critical social gap many individuals with Down syndrome experience – having plenty of acquaintances but lacking deeper connections. The organization's "Connections" program specifically nurtures these relationships through social outings during summer months.
From its tennis origins, Buddy Up has expanded to meet diverse needs: circuit training when families wanted fitness options, summer camps when schools were closed, and comprehensive life skills classes covering communication, finance, technology, cooking, and personal safety. This holistic approach serves individuals from age five through adulthood, recognizing that people with Down syndrome benefit from consistent, year-round programming with plenty of repetition and routine.
Beth's retail planning background at Express provided a surprisingly relevant foundation for building this nonprofit – from testing programs before scaling, to creating consistent processes, to managing budgets effectively. The organization operates primarily through donations, with their annual gala serving as their largest fundraiser, complemented by grants and community partnerships.
Ready to get involved? Visit BuddyUpForLife.org to register as an athlete, volunteer, or donate to support programming that's raising the bar and creating opportunities for individuals with Down syndrome to develop skills, build relationships, and thrive. As Beth's son Will demonstrates through his football career and current studies at Vanderbilt University – where there's a Will, there's always a way.
All right, beth. Welcome to White Fence Living. How are you?
Speaker 2:I'm great. Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I've learned to ask if anybody's done a podcast before. So have you been on a podcast?
Speaker 2:I've done one, so definitely a novice Me too.
Speaker 1:So we'll figure it out, and I would welcome you to Brick House Blue, which I kind of can. But as we were talking, you were with Innovate New Albany, let's start there. So tell me about what your involvement with it was.
Speaker 2:Sure. So in 2018, I was looking to move my nonprofit organization called Buddy Up for Life. I had been working out of my kitchen for 10 years and thought it was time to try to get an office. So I was pleasantly surprised and welcomed into the Innovate New Albany family and kind of grew with them and my office got bigger as we went along and, as Neil would say, we just graduated last. December and we have our own office right next door.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was like, hey, have you, have you ever been to Burkhouse Blue? Like this is where I'm going to do the podcast? And you're like, yeah, I'm right next door.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's awesome Short commute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how was, how was how? Did Innovate New Albany help with your business as it got started? Like any particulars, any like certain things that they did that you think maybe really was like the springboard for BuddyUp.
Speaker 2:So Innovate New Albany was great at with Neil having his Tiger Talks and he really brings in some fabulous speakers from anything on AI to advertising, to marketing, to starting your own business. So one thing is that we were always being educated if you take time out on friday afternoons to go hear a speaker. And the other thing is really a sense of community. So there's a lot of startups within the innovate new albany business. There is probably 20 of us in the office, quite a bit, so we could always knock on each other's doors and run ideas by each other. So that that's really just having that sense of community really helped.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm seeing it to this short time that I've been here. Just we were talking that BuddyUp needs to do a podcast and I'm like like I'm some expert, I'm always I'm encouraging everybody to do it, but it's mostly I'm having so much fun with it. So, yeah, and in that same sense, like being here, anybody who has mentioned a podcast, I'm like I'll do anything I can help or any way that I can help. And speaking of AI we were just talking about, it's so easy. Now, like it is, it's so easy with AI. It's you upload it. It does everything for you. It does the transcripts. It does everything for you. It does the transcripts, it does everything. So, if you see the transcripts and something's spelled wrong, it wasn't me it was.
Speaker 1:AI. It just like short clips. There's software for that. It really is super, super easy. I'm not tech savvy at all, and if I could do it, anybody could do it. That's great.
Speaker 2:We're really hoping to do a podcast. We have so many different parts of our organization that people don't know about, so we have a lot of life skill programs here in in well, our office in New Albany, we host our classes, but we have communication classes, finance, technology, cooking, personal safety, so we've had all of those are done here, correct, okay, well, so let's, let's back up a little bit then.
Speaker 1:Tell me, tell me, buddy Up, tell me, what is it? I always, I'm always curious about the names. So, like, how'd you come up with the name of Buddy Up?
Speaker 2:Sure. So my youngest son, will, when he was three and a half years old, wanted to learn how to play tennis like his older brother. So his coach was like, hey, I want to teach Will how to play tennis. I said good luck with that, that's great. But Will, having Down syndrome, everything is kind of on delay. He wasn't walking till he was two. So I'm like, if you want to put a rack in his hand, let's do it. And the long and the short of it was there was not a lot of programs out there for individuals with Down syndrome and we ended up creating one. We hosted a clinic for a weekend and just learned about it and I had 12 athletes come and I did a survey at the end and I said what did you like about this?
Speaker 2:And they said they really want something ongoing. So there's a lot of things out there for individuals with developmental or intellectual disabilities. They're more event-driven. They're not programming. They're not something that you can do all year round, and that's really what the parents were giving me feedback for and saying we want to have something. They wanted more they wanted more.
Speaker 1:I was like they wanted more.
Speaker 2:They wanted more. So I was like, okay, this was just a weekend deal. And the tennis coach, doug DiRosario, and I said, all right, well, we can do this. So we created our own curriculum. We had to come up with a name. A big part of our organization is that individuals with Down syndrome. We refer to them as our athletes or students, but we pair them one-to-one with a volunteer that we call buddy so so there comes the name buddy yeah and and I kind of did a play on words with individuals with Down syndrome.
Speaker 2:You know, rather than being down, we were being up, so it. I was buddy up for tennis. We started as a tennis organization and we ended up growing. That was not on my radar.
Speaker 2:Again just trying to teach Will how to play tennis, and we're sitting here today with a national program. We have over 20 tennis chapters across the country, so we're heavily populated throughout the Midwest, but we have locations in Michigan, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, several in Florida, Tennessee, Dallas Dallas is our biggest chapter and Arizona. And then one thing has kind of led to another and, as I spoke of, you know, our parents, our families, our students and athletes really need more. And then, as Will was growing with the organization, people would be asking well, how's Will fit? How is he doing this? I was like well, Will works out. And so then they said oh, we need a fitness program will works out.
Speaker 2:And so then they said oh, we need a fitness program. So we created a hit circuit training program, so we have over 10 chapters of a fitness program too. And then everyone said well, we need something in the summer. Okay, so we created a summer camp, so we provide a summer camp here in Columbus as well, and then what ended up happening is the schools are fabulous and we're so blessed in New Albany to have such a great, great school system, but our kids do learn differently.
Speaker 2:We put them all in one room. Someone who has autism is learning differently than someone who has Down syndrome, who's learning differently than someone with CP, and as much as teachers can try to tailor their education, they need more. So we've really found ourselves providing supplemental education and we've created life skill classes. So we have, as I mentioned, we have things in cooking and safety and communication and finance and technology, so we're really serving a population of those middle high schoolers and adults. So we have a huge adult population because within Down syndrome and all of us, we're really lifelong learners. But if you have Down syndrome you really need a lot of repetition. You really need your routine really to take in all that information so you said so, your office is next door.
Speaker 1:Is that where these programs are done as well, at least here locally?
Speaker 2:So, yes, our life skill classes are here in New Albany at our office. So we have a great office where we have classroom space but you know not everyone appreciates the drive to New Albany. So we're able to utilize. We've partnered with Easterseals and we use a classroom there for communication class so we can service the west side. And then we're also partners with Easton so we use their community room and we have a communication class there as well.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Does it now? Can Will beat his brother in tennis now.
Speaker 2:Some days yeah, so Will yeah, but Will's true love was football and he played on the New Albany football team, so that was kind of heartbreaking in terms of he's supposed to be the founder of tennis.
Speaker 1:But he did both sports.
Speaker 2:They're not good cross training, but he did them both.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's great. So Will has graduated. Now, like, where is he at in that?
Speaker 2:So Will just graduated May of 2024, and he is now at a program at Vanderbilt University.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, it's been a great, great opportunity for him. That's great.
Speaker 1:So what's that look like? What's the program look like? Is that something that Vanderbilt specializes in?
Speaker 2:So Vanderbilt actually is. They've had this program for about 15 years and they're one of the oldest universities that provide a program for individuals with intellectual disabilities, so it's very competitive to get in. These programs are really small, they're like 12. They only have 12 students and so his program focuses both on. His program is more academic driven. They don't focus on a lot of the life skills or that sort of thing. They're really focused on his career.
Speaker 2:So he wants to go into education and he's had some conversations with New Albany that he's planning to come back and be an assistant teacher there. So actually the plan is that he would get a certificate and then be able to do that, which is very unique for a lot of these programs. They don't offer that, so he's in an apartment and you know, doing all the things that a typical freshman is doing, and Ubering and Venmoing and eating.
Speaker 2:Chipotle every Saturday and you know texting home for money. So he's on par with his brother for that one. Yeah, that sounds great, man that's that sounds great.
Speaker 1:Um man, that's. That's. It's really really cool story, um, it's funny how you know, like life just leads you to a certain path, right? It's like you never thought you would do that. Um man, really, really cool. So I want to know a little bit more about Will, then. So I, I too, love football, um, and so I did peek at his Instagram. I told you I try not to do too much research because I just kind of want to learn as we're talking. I think that helps anybody that's going to listen. They're asking better questions than I will, but I did look at his Instagram and he does work out. He's huge. So tell me about Will, what's he like? Yeah, will's. So tell me about Will.
Speaker 2:Just what's he like? Yeah, will's. Will in some ways is like any 20-year-old male who is. I always say, 85% of the time Will has really good judgment and 15% of the time I have no idea what's going to happen, so he definitely keeps us on our toes. Really cool thing about Will and a lot of individuals with Down syndrome is I think they have a really unique perspective. I think their lens on life is just so amazing and it's so pure and um. It's just really cool. So I love his outlook. He's never afraid. He always tries really hard, he's super determined and he doesn't give up. That's why we own the phrase where there's a will, there's a way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 2:He owns that literally and figuratively. He works really hard and it's funny when he played high school football he played on D-line and he would get double teamed sometimes because people didn't know he had down syndrome and you know, it's just, my husband would sit there and like be cringing, but he held his own, he was never afraid and and he loved it.
Speaker 1:So well, as much as he liked working out. I understand like looking at the pictures.
Speaker 2:I'm like man he does he spent some time in the gym just working on the upper body, not big on the sit-ups. Well, now, that's all he has to worry about, that's great.
Speaker 1:I would love to meet Will sometime. So how often do you go see him? How often does he come home?
Speaker 2:Sure, we see him at least once a month.
Speaker 1:Great.
Speaker 2:And actually he comes home tonight for the summer. So he's excited to home tonight for the summer. So he's, uh, he's excited to be home for the summer and, um, he'll be helping out at new Albany schools for the summer. So he likes to volunteer at safety town, so he'll do that.
Speaker 1:And then good, so I think I'm pretty sure my daughter is doing it.
Speaker 2:Awesome.
Speaker 1:Three of the four did it. One I think missed like I think it was COVID, maybe I don't know. But yeah, so we'll be around there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he'll be there too, he likes to work in Adventureland. So, like I said, he's pretty adventurous. That's really cool so he'll be doing that. He'll be helping with the summer program, the extended school year program that New Albany offers. So he'll be working in the primary building there. So he's all about kids this summer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and keep them busy, right.
Speaker 2:Very yeah, as much as I can.
Speaker 1:That's good. So I'm curious more about, like his opportunity to potentially come back like as a student or as a teacher's assistant, like what does that look like?
Speaker 2:Fingers crossed, I don't know, so we'll have to wait. So when he was in high school, he had the opportunity to help with the primary building and he would help in phys ed class and would help Coach Todd. So it's really about you know, our school systems are great. The school system always works, will understand someone who has an intellectual disability and it's really a great opportunity for him to be in an environment where someone will get him, no matter who his boss is.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and then he loves kids and he loves to work with kids, so I imagine that he would be helping in the phys ed area or possibly tech. That's great. He's really savvy. He can make me a really good Google slide.
Speaker 1:I need him to help me out here. So yeah, I just figured out I can hit buttons and make noise and you're doing it well. Well, I'm like a kid now, so it's like, it's like a soundboard, so I don't, I'm gonna have to touch it, but I think I can make an applause or some sort of noise or not.
Speaker 2:I don't know. Well, it'll come. It'll come. We'll have to press more buttons.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really interesting. So I taught phys ed for a while. I went to Otterbein, graduated I was in education. It was like 2009 in levees and I was always worried about my job, um, but I loved it too. I loved coaching probably more than I did teaching, um, but then got out and got into business and, uh, still do a ton of coaching.
Speaker 2:But yeah, Will loves to coach. He's a tennis coach within our organization now, so that was really cool to see him evolve from an athlete and then he grew into a buddy volunteer and then, um, then he's coaching and then he actually teaches red ball tennis too. So he'll be doing that this summer as well. So he loves to coach and the goal is he can coach as long as he always knows more than the athlete does.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I was talking to Jeff Shirk Shirk Orthodontics. So I was talking to Jeff Shirk Shirk Orthodontics and so Jeff's son Jordan, his bar mitzvah is this summer and he's thinking about his bar mitzvah project. So he wants to do a football camp for special needs and I was like I'm going to talk to the perfect person so maybe he can get involved with that. Yeah yeah, that would be great. Will would love that dream job, me too. Me too, I might be out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah and uh, and don't think that our kids don't want to tackle. So Will was not into flag football, so we did it, but he wanted to get the pads and get going.
Speaker 1:When did he start playing football?
Speaker 2:middle school okay so he did um flag football when he was younger, but I think that was probably like second grade.
Speaker 1:But then he he started football he was like let's get the pads on. Yeah, yeah let's learn.
Speaker 2:Okay, and there was a little resistance from um the school. They were worried about his safety, so we had to jump through a lot of hoops to um because I was not. The deal with Will was that he was going to play he's on the team, he's and then he was expected to practice go to practice every practice, not miss a practice, and be part of the team.
Speaker 2:Of course he wasn't going to, you know, be a starter, but he was. We always had the agreement. He's never going in before, before the game starts or after the game for a touchdown. Yeah, but he was. We always had the agreement. He's never going in before, before the game starts or after the game for a touchdown or anything he plays. If he doesn't, if there's no time for him to play, that's fine. Yep, but um, this was not a handout and he worked really, really hard. That's great. And, um, you know, coach finn was great. You know, taught him a lot about, you know, football, faith, family, finish. We all lived it, yeah.
Speaker 2:And he still talks about finishing.
Speaker 1:It's an amazing process. You know, I coached football for a long time and now with youth. But to watch young men and women because I coach track too when they come in as freshmen or you see them as middle schoolers and they're babies, to when they come in as freshmen or you see them as middle schoolers and their babies and and to when they leave, and you can attribute a lot of that to like their experience in in sport, because it's so hard so physically, mentally, emotionally demanding yeah, yeah, and new albany does a great job with um.
Speaker 2:They really focus on developing people. Yep and good athletes is great, but it's really about the person that you become, and that's something we really try to instill within our organization as well is just realizing all these kids, no matter what you're doing, there's so much potential and they'll excel if they're placed in the right environment. So if we give them the tools and within Buddy Up for Life. We talk a lot about raising the bar and having that attitude of expect more, and then our athletes and students will be more.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's been great to see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes. So I want to learn a little more about buddy up. Um, like, if you're, if you, if you have a child, or, or you know somebody who, like who's a good candidate for the program, and then how do they start? Like, where do you start?
Speaker 2:Sure. So our organization, um, specializes in programming for individuals with Down syndrome. So all of our athletes and students have Down syndrome, or perhaps they have a dual diagnosis. We have a few that have a similar diagnosis to Down syndrome that are part of the organization. So you can become part of our organization as early as five. We offer tennis for five and, and the beautiful thing is, you never age out, you're never too great. We keep evolving to provide, you know, new challenges and new opportunities to grow. So tennis is our gateway. And and then, once you're 10, 10 or 12, then we have programs for fitness.
Speaker 2:We have another fitness program called cardio and core, which we do over at the height center, which is great, and it obviously focuses on those two things um which the core part of your body is, your hub for your speech and fine motor skills and gross motor skills.
Speaker 2:And individuals with Down syndrome typically have a very weak core. So anything we can do to strengthen that core is huge. So we've developed that class as well, and then our life skills classes start at 14. So anyone is welcome to join. And then the volunteer piece is huge. So anyone can come volunteer who's 14 years or older and we train them for the program. So we teach them how to interact with individuals with down syndrome, give them some tips, also just the philosophy of the organization and then whichever program they're in. So if they're helping us with pickleball or tennis or cooking, then we have a training to help provide them with the skills to work with our athletes and students.
Speaker 1:What's the commitment level for a volunteer? Because I'm just thinking like my daughter would absolutely. She's not old enough, but she would love this like this. Yeah, yeah, she would be all she would love it it's um.
Speaker 2:So programs like tennis and, uh, pickleball.
Speaker 1:They run 10 months out of the year so okay so you sign up for classes that you can attend and then that volunteer will be buddied up with somebody right? Yes, Okay.
Speaker 2:Yes, and then our life skill programs and our fitness programs. You can sign up for what we would term a session, which would be like an eight to ten week time period, and the commitment is once a week for that hour and 90 minutes, and then we ask that you can attend like 75 percent of the time. It's really important, um, you're developing relationships with the athletes and students, and that's a really unique part of our programming as well is that we take the time to pair yeah and buddy up our athletes and and volunteers, because they do build relationships.
Speaker 2:And that's why we created another program called connections and that's for our athletes or students to pair up with a buddy for the summer and then they meet once a week for six weeks because they do develop relationships throughout the year and then this gives them an opportunity to get together, go have ice cream or play putt-putt or go bowling or do something fun outside of the organization and on their own time.
Speaker 2:How cool is that it's really cool because a lot of our um, our students and athletes like will has a really big cast of friends but he doesn't have like best friends.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So people might say, hey, do you want to go to dinner? And then they drop him off and then go out after without him.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know, there's a lot of what you and I would be like almost acquaintances and like everyone would high five him in the hall and be like hey, you know, hi. But when it came to to like Friday night, or Saturday night connections.
Speaker 1:Yeah, your BFF yeah.
Speaker 2:You know um they're they. They don't have a lot of that level of relationships. So this connections piece and the volunteer piece is huge.
Speaker 1:I have to believe that, like I'm sure, there's been some like really strong bonds formed Any you don't have to name, but like any specific scenarios or anything like, because I just picture if you're going to spend that amount of time, number one, you're volunteering right. So you're committed to it, You're passionate about it. But elaborate on that Like. Are there any like specifics?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so we have great examples. I have a New Albany example. So Ben Barber is an athlete and a student within our organization and his buddy is Tommy Niederprim. And Tommy, he volunteered in high school and then when he would come home on break in college he would come and then now he's graduated college and working and he's volunteering again. That's awesome and he brings Ben to tennis and they're best buds, yeah, and they've developed quite a relationship and they have a really strong and special bond and it's awesome to see.
Speaker 1:That's amazing. I'm sure there's endless.
Speaker 2:We have endless. It's really cool, it's fun and Tommy is a really great example of people stay within the organization.
Speaker 1:So what's the oldest? You said around five. They could potentially start right.
Speaker 2:So what's the?
Speaker 1:oldest, what's the youngest?
Speaker 2:So well, we started when Will was three and a half. Call me crazy.
Speaker 1:So then, I upped it to five, so yeah it's hard to keep someone engaged for 90 minutes at that age and so five is our youngest.
Speaker 2:Our oldest athlete right now is 45. Wow, so, yeah, yeah, we had one in their 50s and unfortunately they passed. But you don't age out and, like I said, you're either. You know they're looking for programming. I mean, a lot of Down Syndrome Associations reach out to us because then we provide a program. They don't. They're great at resources, great at connecting families, but they don't always have ongoing programming is great at connecting families, but they don't always have ongoing programming. So that's where we can come in and partner with the Down Syndrome Associations and then provide that programming and a lot of adults they're staying home with mom and dad and they need more social opportunities.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just naturally there has to be less opportunities for the older you get.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, just, naturally there has to be less opportunities for the older. You get Absolutely and you know what happens too is like Will could. He did t-ball, he did taekwondo he did. I had him in anything I could think of to help him and keep him busy and to make him stronger and you can hang.
Speaker 2:I mean a lot like Will could hang on his own and everyone you know has different athletic abilities but he, he could hold his own. But then, like once little league baseball, like then it got to be like and coach, coach, pitch was good, but then when it was, yeah, you know, then it gets really serious it's very serious and it was beyond parks and recs and um, you know, he didn't, he couldn't play baseball anymore.
Speaker 2:I mean, they have miracle league and there's other opportunities, but it wasn't on a team and traveling and doing all those things. So what happens is, you know, once you get to that middle school like 12, 12-year-old, that's when really we see an influx of people signing up for within our programs too.
Speaker 2:So we have, you know we can fill that need where you know they can't hang with their peers too much anymore. Yeah, so then we provide them. You know this becomes their team. So and and you know, special Olympics does a great job and and they have basketball and they have different things that we don't do. So you know someone could be playing tennis and then they take a break and they have Special Olympics basketball and then they come back. So, um you know, it's really good compliment to each other.
Speaker 1:So how did you, how, how are you doing this? How did you do it? So retail background right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like everybody here. So, you're in retail and, and I know it started gradual, but, like I mean you, you obviously know everything there is to know about this. Well, I learn as I go. But there's, I mean, ironically, obviously know everything there is to know about this. Well, I learn as I go.
Speaker 2:But there's. I mean, ironically, I was in planning and allocation and I worked for Express when Michael Weiss was there, so I had great mentors and you know the limited world and that world. There was a lot of processes in place and there was a lot of expectations. So there was. You know, every Monday morning I have a touch base with my team. You know my coaches know how to do a hindsight meeting.
Speaker 2:So, I mean there's, there's lots of things that that are great checks and balances. And then, um, in planning an allocation, before you would implement something across every single store, you tested it. So we test and we use Columbus as our home base and then I know like, once we've tested and proven things, then we can roll this out to all of our chapters. So, ironically, there's a lot that I use from my days at Express.
Speaker 1:Well, and I bet the level, like the size of which you know it is now, the bigger it gets, probably the more that retail, that big retail experience has got to help, I mean, it's got to, it has to come into play when you're you know, day to day.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I think there's things that I've used. I was a financial arm to the merchants, so we would have to go into open to buy meetings and ask for money, and you'd learned how to ask for money. And you know as a nonprofit, you're always asking for money and you have to learn not to take it personally, and not everyone can give money.
Speaker 1:And so.
Speaker 2:But when I'm building a plan and I'm building a budget, you know there's rules. I would never plan down because it expressed you would never plan down or you're going to be down.
Speaker 1:You know, there's you know.
Speaker 2:so there's definitely some things that you know is managing my open to buy or managing a budget? They're the same. So I'm thankful that I had some of that financial background that could apply to, you know, running a nonprofit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so is. Is that how you're basically funded is? Are you funded through like does it? Is there a cost associated with being with the program or is it? Is it? Is it funded through donations? What's the primary source?
Speaker 2:primary source is donations, so we rely heavily on donations. We have a really great gala. It's really, really fun. Over 400 people come, it's down at Kemba, conspiracy Band plays and it's a party. It's a celebration of our athletes and students. So I encourage anyone and everyone to come, because it's not your typical. I mean, there's a lot of galas out there that are fun, but I think ours is really special.
Speaker 1:And is it in the summer? When is it?
Speaker 2:It'll be February 28th.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:It's in the winter but our athletes and students are a part of it and it's just a really special night. But that's our largest fundraiser of the year and that's where we spend. We rely heavily upon that event to carry us through the year. We also apply for several grants and then we do partner with the Down Syndrome Association. So our various chapters, a lot of the Down Syndrome Associations, help support Because we do have to pay. All the tennis coaches, all the pickleball coaches, we have to pay for court time. People don't give you that for free.
Speaker 2:Or it's like Tuesday at 2 when no one can come. So knowing here and we want I need to sleep well that Dallas can be up and running the next day, we pay. So there are small fees where our athletes and students do pay, because you have to have skin in the game.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, if you don't pay and it's rainy out, then you know mom might not want to take you. But like she knows, you know she's got 20 bucks invested. Then she, you know, is going to take you. So we do have small payments, but the payments do not cover the cost of the programming of course.
Speaker 2:So that's where we have to um do our fundraisers and grants and all that great stuff uh, corporate sponsors, I would assume so we do a lot of corporate sponsors you typically will help with events or new projects yeah, so yeah, and we have a lot of great supporters here in New Albany.
Speaker 1:Well, you're obviously very talented, because to go from that and build what you have I mean, how many people are on staff?
Speaker 2:Well, we are small and mighty. So our home office staff next door there's just three of us that work full time, and then we have a volunteer manager that works part time and another community relations director part time, but then we have a lot of instructors. So, to answer your question, we have like five home office and then for every class which we have about 10 classes we have an instructor, and then for every program such as tennis or fitness, there's one to three coaches or trainers that run a program.
Speaker 1:And I'm sure they carry a lot of the load.
Speaker 2:They do. But we have a great team that you know. We want a lot of consistency out there too, so you know that's what a big part of our home office does is make sure that our programming is consistent from chapter to chapter, and we try to have great communication with them and provide additional training. And we go back once we open up a chapter. We go back and make sure everything's okay and everyone's still trained and developing and growing.
Speaker 1:That's so cool. Well, congratulations.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:Thanks, you've done an amazing job. I told you I intentionally didn't and I've known you for a while now I intentionally didn't do a lot of research and I honestly didn't realize it was that big. I really didn't. Do you have how many students? Any idea of total count of students?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we have close. There's over 800 across the country between all of our programs and we probably have about eighteen hundred volunteers. So we have a lot. We're impacting a lot of lives.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which is really cool, I bet. I mean I know that you're impacting those volunteers as much as the students, I think our volunteers sometimes more.
Speaker 2:They're really taken back and it's really fun to see them grow. We have some students that come in because they have to have service hours. But then it's really cool when they stay and we see a lot of that.
Speaker 1:I bet.
Speaker 2:And it's really. We have a really eclectic group, so there could be a 14-year-old and then Ohio State's tennis team will come out and then there will be a fraternity from OSU and then there's people my age and everyone in between. So it's really fun and everyone gets along fabulously on the courts and through all the programs and they put our athletes and students first and just develop a great relationship. And I think the buddies become inspired because there's so many obstacles that our athletes and students have and they they don't complain and they just work harder.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, and you know you can be having a really rough morning and then you walk in, then it becomes the best yeah.
Speaker 1:Unlike coaching youth sports, where it's hard to get them to work that hard.
Speaker 2:Ours work hard, so that's great.
Speaker 1:So if, if you want to, get involved. What's the best way?
Speaker 2:Go right online um to our website at Buddy Up For Life and you can register as an athlete or a volunteer. Buddy Great.
Speaker 1:So it's pretty easy.
Speaker 2:Always donate.
Speaker 1:You can always donate.
Speaker 2:Uh, we can always donate. We're always growing, we're always expanding, trying new programs, trying new things, and you know we definitely need the community's support.
Speaker 1:Yeah, really cool. So before we go, what do you like about New Albany?
Speaker 2:What do you?
Speaker 1:love about living in New Albany.
Speaker 2:I love the sense of community number one. First and foremost. We've been here 28 years, so we've seen a lot of growth.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, yeah, you have.
Speaker 2:So we've seen a lot of growth. So you know I'm pretty old school, I'll go to the bank and I know the bankers. But, they're like hey Beth, so you know. But they're like hey Beth, you know, so you know. That's, that's nice. I love the personal interaction, you know. I love Market Street. I love to go to Elliott Cooper, you know. I mean there's and even like Market Street. All of those businesses are so great and they.
Speaker 2:We do field trips with our students there and so we can go into any of the stores and they help us out you know whether it's cream absolutely or johnson's, you know we go and hollywood feed and the library.
Speaker 1:So I would just you know, as new albany continues to grow, there's still a great sense of community yeah, yeah, beth, I was really excited to chat with you and and I hope that, uh, I hope this, you know, gives a place for people to learn more about it and you know, I hope, I hope that I hope this, you know, gives a place for people to learn more about it and, you know, I hope I hope it turns into volunteers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you so much, and maybe some money. We would love both.
Speaker 1:So thank you so much for the opportunity. Yeah Thanks, great Thanks, beth.