So. You got the best Black Friday deals and supported your favorite local businesses on Saturday. And, let’s face it, you have been getting the cyber deals since April because you shop online all day! How about Giving Tuesday?

Giving Tuesday is a global day of giving fueled by the power of social media and collaboration. Celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving among the widely recognized shopping events Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving.

If you are looking to support your community during this difficult time, join Best Buddies in Central Illinois in creating an inclusive world for our friends and family with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Best Buddies is the world’s largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical, and economic isolation of the 200 million people with IDD.

Best Buddies mission of inclusion includes four pillars: One-To-One Friendships, Integrated and Competitive Employment, Leadership Development, and Inclusive Living.

Check out a list of ways you can show your support for diversity, equity, and inclusion in Central Illinois.

1. Go to the Best Buddies Giving Tuesday website, select Illinois, then make your donation!
2. Click here and create a Facebook Fundraiser for Best Buddies! Tag @BestBuddiesIL in your post too! Feel free to share a story in your life and why you think inclusion is important for our friends and family with IDD.
3. Sign up for the 2021 Best Buddies in Central Illinois Friendship Walk! Create your team and ask friends to sign up or donate. This is a great way to get a head start on the new year!!!

And if you didn’t know, Best Buddies in Illinois is having a fun, random-acts-of-kindness, spirit week! Follow @BestBuddiesIL on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for more info on our virtual get-togethers!

Be safe! Happy Holidays! And thank you for keeping inclusion alive in your community during this difficult time!

Best Buddies® 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 people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, Best Buddies is a vibrant organization that has grown from one original chapter to nearly 3,000 elementary school, middle school, high school, and college Friendship and Promoter chapters worldwide. Today, Best Buddies’ nine formal programs — Middle Schools, High Schools, Colleges, Citizens, e-Buddies®, Jobs, Ambassadors, Promoters and Inclusive Living— engage participants in each of the 50 states and in 56 countries and territories, positively impacting the lives of over 1.3 million people with and without disabilities around the world. In many cases, as a result of their involvement with Best Buddies, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities secure rewarding jobs, live independently, become inspirational leaders and build lifelong friendships. For more information, please visit www.bestbuddies.org or connect with us via Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. For Central Illinois, email [email protected].