MIT BB is a student run volunteer organization that serves youth with learning and developmental disabilities.
It's been estimated that people with learning disabilities represent 10-15% of the US population. At a highly selective institute like MIT, we seldom meet individuals struggling with these challenges and we often don't realize the extent of barriers and setbacks placed between them and a normal life like ours. It's not uncommon for the youth we volunteer with to have felt excluded in their classrooms or among their peers for being slightly different.
The mission of MIT Best Buddies is to provide opportunities for us to include these youth on campus. We host bi-monthly events where we bring youth and MIT volunteers together for fun activities like tennis, basketball, arts and crafts or food making. We hope that by providing this platform, the youth will be in a safe environment to enjoy interacting with college students. We also have a buddy program where MIT students are paired with a youth so they can build a meaningful friendship together.
MIT Best Buddies is a chapter of Best Buddies International, a global organization founded by Anthony Kennedy Shriver to empower people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).The mission of Best Buddies is to establish an international volunteer movement that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendships, integrated employment, and leadership development for people with IDD.
We will be updating our facebook page with upcoming events. Please feel free to stop by, sign-up to volunteer or contact exec at bbexec@mit.edu.
