Good People Doing Good Things … Best Buddies and More

Posted on by under Bits 'n Pieces, Global Issues, Good people doing good things, Social commentary

My first ‘good people’ of the day came to my attention thanks to my youngest reader, Benjamin, who emailed me with … “Namaste, Miss Jill! It’s me, Benjamin! We, Gem and me, found a good people for you! Gem read it to me and I told her, that’s a good people thingy for Miss Jill. Bye!”  Well, he was right, this is perfect for my “good people thingy” … thank you, Benjamin!  Don’t you just love it when a 5-year-old is already taking notice of the good people in this world?

Michell Girard is a hero, at least to one person, Chris Barrington.  Ms. Girard was Chris’ teacher many, many years ago, and she must have been an exceptional teacher, for when Chris was found wandering alone on a highway outside of Gatesville, Texas one day back in June, hers was the only name he could think of to give the Sheriff’s deputies.  You see, Chris is autistic and severely developmentally delayed, and functions at the level of a six-year-old child.

Chris had been living with his father, but his father was in the late stages of leukemia and was not able to get out of bed to care for Chris, so Chris struck out on his own.  When the deputies found him, he had been walking around for two days, and other than his father’s name, the only other one he could come up with was his teacher from way back when, Michell Girard.

When the Sheriff’s office contacted Ms. Girard, she asked …

“What happens if I don’t take him? Will he get in a group home?”

When told that no, he would be institutionalized, she responded …

“Not on my watch, he’s not!”

You’ve gotta love that lady!  And that is how Chris Barrington came to live with a woman he hadn’t seen in years.  Chris’ father died a short time later, on August 1st, and Ms. Girard has applied for permanent guardianship.

There are a lot of things in life that most of us take for granted but that Chris had never known … simple things like … a birthday party!  Says Ms. Girard …

“He’s never had a birthday present, a birthday party, he’s never had Christmas, Thanksgiving, nothing. So, this year is going to be full of firsts.”

But he had a party this year!birthday-cakeAnd that’s not all … he took his first boat ride!  Ms. Girard posted on Facebook to see if any of her friends knew of somebody with a boat who would be willing to take him for a ride … just around Lake Waco.  Enter Jimmy Bennett, owner of JMB Fishing …

“You know, there are so many things that kids want to do. They want to go to Disney. I have one that wants to go to Hawaii on a shark fishing trip. Chris is happy to come out on Lake Waco and ride around on a boat. That’s all he wants to do.”

Check out the video …

Ms. Girard definitely qualifies in my book as a ‘good people’ … and from the looks of it, Chris Barrington is embarking on a fun new chapter in his life!

As I was digging for more information about Michell Girard and Chris Barrington, I came across another story that led me to an organization …Lisa-RuthMeet best buddies Lisa Buchanan and Ruth Godding.  The two met 20 years ago, through an organization called Best Buddies International, a non-profit that is working to end “social, physical and economic isolation” among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

When they met, Lisa Buchanan was president of the Best Buddies chapter at Marymount University in Virginia.  Per Lisa …

“We hit it off right away. We started talking on the phone. We just did all the on-campus things through college, like Halloweenfest and Christmas parties. Then when I graduated I wasn’t technically in Best Buddies anymore, but I still kept in touch with Ruth.”

The two have spent many good times together.  Lisa is now a schoolteacher and the mother of 13-year-old twins, of whom Ruth says …

“They were very cute babies! I was very surprised they were twins. Wow! There were two babies! I wasn’t expecting that one.”

Godding-Buchanon.jpgBest Buddies International highlighted Ruth and Lisa’s story of enduring friendship this month. According to the organization’s founder, Anthony Shriver …

“Ruth and Lisa’s 20-year friendship is really what Best Buddies is all about. It’s truly a testament to the power of friendship and inclusion. Genuine one-to-one friendships like this change lives, and it’s why we’ve spent the last 30 years working to connect people who may not normally be friends and changing the way people think about individuals with special abilities — everyone should have a best buddy.”

Best Buddies’ Mission Statement:

Best Buddies International is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to establishing a global volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, leadership development, and inclusive living for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

The IDD community that Best Buddies serves includes, but is not limited to, people with Down syndrome, autism, Fragile X, Williams syndrome, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury and other undiagnosed disabilities.

Best Buddies is the world’s largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Our programs empower the special abilities of people with IDD by helping them form meaningful friendships with their peers, secure successful jobs, live independently, improve public speaking, self-advocacy and communication skills, and feel valued by society.

our-visionAnd they have had a global impact …

Best-Buddies-2Best-Buddies-3Best-Buddies-4

Take a look at their website  … I think you’ll agree that this organization also qualifies as a ‘good people’ and deserves a two thumbs-up!

Once again, good people just dropped into my lap and I didn’t have to look far.  Underneath all the noise and detritus in the news these days, there are these people, real people, making a difference in the lives of others.  Kind of restores a bit of faith in the world, doesn’t it?

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38 thoughts on “Good People Doing Good Things … Best Buddies and More”

    • He does, indeed! He’s good little people. Yeah, I love the idea of Good Buddies, rather like the Big Brothers and Big Sisters programs, only more lasting, and offering much more.

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  4. Another great good people post. I wonder what it would take to get “the media” to lose its fake fascination for the “dung heap” of politics, celebrities, crime, wars and the outrageous and focus instead mainly on stories like these, publishing mostly stories of real heroes of society; of good people doing good things. It’s obvious there are a lot of these people, why not make them front page news? Maybe we would arrive at this: “Trump? Who cares. I am reading about a young boy who helps a nearly blind and disabled fellow student with his homework. That’s what I call news worthy.” I get tired of sipping on media bile.

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    • Ahhhh … therein lies the problem. It’s “blood and guts” that sells. People in general seem to prefer reading or hearing about conflict, chaos and controversy, for they find stories like my ‘good people’ ones to be too boring, too lame & tame. And … people watching or reading means advertising $$$$$$, and the media outlets have to make a profit, after all. Sigh.

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      • Yes, I know, I’m aware of that. I was doing one of my usual “head’s up” thought exercises. So this leads to… if that is what the sheeple want, the blood and gore, why deprive them? They’re not going to listen, they’re not going to change until it’s their own blood and gore being splattered; until it’s their own kids dying of malnutrition, famine, chemical warfare that makes them question if perhaps they should have dealt with the problem sooner. But even then, it’s likely they’ll be even more entrenched in the blame mode. The sheeple want to be entertained. They want to have fun. They want to play with new toys, and they’re the same all over, from the Arctic to the Antarctic; from the western hemisphere to the east, the only exceptions being those currently being slaughtered in regime change wars or languishing in refugee camps. Those are thinking of survival and once that achieved, vengeance. It’s the way of it on planet Hurt.

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  6. “Namaste, Miss Jill! It’s me, Benjamin! WOW, you told everybody about my Good People people! That’s awesome! Gem read all about Best Buddies to me. I’m going to be a Best Buddy when I get bigger. It won’t be very soon, I’m almost 6 but that’s not big enough, right? I do my civil duty with Gem, even little peoples can do that. Two thumbs up and a ton of Gold Stars! Thank you and Bye!”

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    • Namaste, Benjamin!!! I’m so glad you liked the post … it was your idea that started it for me! Isn’t Best Buddies just the best? I love what they do, and I’m glad you plan to be a Best Buddy when you are bigger! I’m so proud of you! You are a good ‘little people’! Hugs ‘n kisses to you!

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  7. I learned about best buddies when my youngest son signed up with them. He has since been a best buddy to three young men, all disabled. he adopted all three this year. So now I have FOUR grandchildren to adore!

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    • Thanks Keith! Yes, I had, surprisingly, never heard of Best Buddies, but it is a great organization! I enjoy all of my ‘good people’ posts, but this one really excited me.

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    • Absolutely!!! I was really impressed with the work of Best Buddies International and surprised that I had never heard of them before. I will be looking into them more and writing another post focusing exclusively on them at some point.

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  13. I’ve often agreed there are some nice people in this world but today,s examples show there are some exceptional ones also.Well done them and well done Best Buddies International, outstanding record.
    Cwtch

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    • Indeed, there are some really wonderful people and they are largely buried under the detritus of the daily horror show. I was surprised that I had never heard of Best Buddies before, for they have quite an impressive track record! I’ll be doing another post at some point, focusing only on them and their good works.
      Cwtch

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