
Sometimes when a friend is needed, one can be found right next door, or in this case, in the Glendora High School ceramics room.

Every week on Wednesdays, an eccentric and extremely loving group of people meet in the ceramics room at lunch for the Best Buddies club. Best Buddies is an international organization that has roots in high schools all across the US.
In the club, each volunteer is buddied up with a student with a disability, and they have the opportunity to spend lunch together.
“People can join any time they want,” says Sarah Cushman, the Best Buddies club president. Each meeting is a wonderful experience, and as long as students are committed to coming as often as possible and playing their part, everybody is invited to come and join.

Sophie Yi, a first year club member, explains how difficult it can be for kids with disabilities to fit into an ordinary high school.
“People still get nervous when they’re talking to me and they see the walker,” says Yi. "People care about kids with disabilities, but they don’t always make the effort to talk to them.
Best Buddies gives young people the opportunity to make a new friend in a safe and loving environment.
“We are all people and we should be treated with love and respect,” says Abby Moore, a junior at GHS. Best Buddies and the students in it break the walls between many differences with each meeting.
Every time Best Buddies meets there is a joyful and loving atmosphere that gives a voice to people who
might not always be heard.
David Hester, the club treasurer, found his way to Best Buddies when trying to get more involved in his community.
“The goal of every Best Buddies club is to not exist in the first place,” says Hester. This program closes the gaps between differences, and the club and its members hope to one day make the wonderful effects of this club a normality.