Happy New Year!

What will 2011 mean for you and the students in your life?  Will it be a year full of friends and inclusive opportunities in education?  Will you ride out the rest of the school year accepting a certain level of social and/or academic shortcomings in exchange for a relative peace in the classroom?  Would you be surprised to know that research indicates peer support improves both social and academic outcomes for both the student with special education needs and his/her mentor (Carter et al, 2008)?

Good Friend, Inc. is looking forward to all this year has to offer.  We might not have secured that Pepsi Refresh grant, but our middle school film Choosing To Be a Good Friend Forever will still be released this spring.  To date, all research supporting our programs has been anecdotal, but a Wisconsin university will soon undertake a study to prove the effectiveness of both our Peer Sensitivity Workshop and our staff in-service.  (If you want your Waukesha or Jefferson County school included, contact Chelsea Budde.)  And we're getting ready for our 3rd annual Hoa Aloha Autism Awareness Bowling Event on April 3 at New Berlin Bowl.  (Watch our website for online team registration beginning February 1.)

With all things being new again, maybe you're ready to jump in and support our autism awareness-acceptance-empathy™ mission on a whole new level.  If so, check out our opportunities posted at the Volunteer Center's website.  If you are looking to make another kind of contribution, perhaps through membership, check this out and click on the Membership page.

Here's to a year of healthy social relationships!  Let us know how Good Friend can support your school's goals in that regard.  Call Chelsea at 414-510-0385, or Denise at 262-391-1369.

Are you one of our 2,637 Cause members?

This week especially, we are thankful for each one of you! There is strength in numbers. Be counted. 

a non-political vote solicitation

EVERYONE can get behind this candidate!

Please vote daily in November from your phone (text 103636 to 73774) and/or using your email address at the Refresh Everything website.  Our idea is coming up the ranks slowly but surely.  The top 100 vote-getters from the previous month which weren't funded become the next month's top ranked, whereas the new ideas start at the bottom rungs.  Let's show the world we believe in awareness, acceptance, and empathy!

How refreshing!

Beginning November 1, we'll need two minutes of your time every day through November 30.  And before we get there, we need you to recruit all your friends.  We have an opportunity to secure a $25,000 grant from the Pepsi Refresh project for the production of our middle school video.  Not only will this fund the project from screenplay to credits, but it will also allow us to place a DVD in every Autism Society of America chapter in all 50 United States!

To register to vote, each person with an email address creates a profile with their email address and a password at http://www.refresheverything.com/. Take a look around the site now and get used to voting for your favorite ideas.  You have a chance to vote for 10 different ideas daily.  Note that you must log in before your vote will be counted.  So after you've entered your email address and password, you still have to type in the two scrambled words before you can vote. After you vote, you can share your favorite ideas on Facebook and/or Twitter.

Our idea isn't live yet, so don't bother looking.  What we're doing now is directing people to our Facebook page specifically for this grant.  By Liking this page, you'll be able to spread the word more easily on FB and we'll be able to remind you every day in November to vote.  If you'd rather have an email reminder, just email Chelsea or Denise and we'll put you on a list.

Do you have a wi-fi equipped laptop?  Would you be willing to host a voter event at a restaurant, coffee shop, school campus, or other wireless Internet access hot spot in your neighborhood next month?  If so, let us know!  We'll get you equipped with the necessary information to get voters registered and voting for Good Friend.

Thanks for supporting this important project!!

And they're off!

The first month of a new school year is nearly behind us already.  In speaking with some parents and educators last night at our 3rd Annual Membership Meeting, it might have been quite a learning curve, with some of the rough edges needing smoothing out.  Inclusion of all learners of all abilities in the classroom (and on the playground) can be a challenging job -- but we know it is always rewarding!  So if you're still on shaky ground, we offer you the pearl Paula Kluth shared at last week's Autism Society of Wisconsin Fall Conference: "Don't give up five minutes before the miracle happens!"

What we also need to be careful of the very real problems of bullying and disability harassment.  Make no mistake -- these anti-social behaviors can lead to suicidal ideation.  We want to be sure all children can receive a free, appropriate education (FAPE) in the least restrictive environment (LRE).  All learners deserve to feel safe in their school.  Consider having Good Friend come to do an assembly on or around Oct. 20 -- a day designated for students to say, "The End of Bullying Begins with Me!"

Did you know our 3rd Annual "Tackling Autism Awareness" silent auction FUNdraiser will be held at Steinhafels  in Waukesha on Saturday, Nov. 6, from 1-4 p.m.?  We hope you have already marked your calendar.  If not, please do!  We're looking forward to a family-friendly event where folks can get their holiday shopping done and be entertained, all while supporting autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy.  If you have an item or collection of things (as in for a package or basket) to donate to the auction, please get in touch with us (Denise 262-391-1369; Chelsea 414-510-0385).

Would you be willing to distribute event flyers and/or posters in your community in early October?  We need LOTS of people to come to Steinhafels on Nov. 6, so we need you to help us spread the word!

Happy Birthday, Good Friend!

This week, Good Friend, Inc., celebrates the third anniversary of its incorporation.  And coincidentally, co-founder Chelsea Budde celebrates her birthday this month also!  Please consider making a donation in honor of these events either directly through our website, or at our Facebook Cause.  Your gift will help us fund our second video -- this time for a middle school audience.  Filming has already begun on this enormous undertaking, which now boasts a cast of 19 and a crew of 6.  We hope to release the DVD in early 2011, but we won't be able to do that without your support!  We appreciate your consideration, and hope you enjoy these remaining weeks of summer.

Good Friend is helping create a culture of acceptance through art!

What a third birthday present this will be for Good Friend, Inc.!  A 20' x 50' (approx.) mural at the gateway to downtown Waukesha's arts-shopping-dining district by muralist Christine Vincent will have a team of remarkable junior artists helping on August 7.  Denise Schamens is bringing students with special education needs, including autism, from all over the city, together with their school friends to help paint the leaf border along the bottom.

We want all 17 of Waukesha's elementary schools represented, but we need to identify participants still from Hadfield, Lowell, Saratoga, and Summit View.  Please email denise@goodfriendinc.com if you know someone who might be interested in having his or her child be a part of this inspiring project.

By working on a mural depicting Waukesha's history, we'll be acknowledging our past.  We are celebrating our present through our junior artists and the special friendships they share.  And as we show the community how valuable people of ALL abilities are, we are treasuring their future.

You can join this collaboration by making a tax-deductible donation through Good Friend between now and August 7!  Just go to www.goodfriendinc.com and click the Donate button.  Put "Waukesha mural" in the Purpose field so we designate the funds accordingly.  You can also write a check payable to Good Friend, Inc., Attn: Waukesha Historical Mural Project, 808 Cavalier Dr., Waukesha, WI 53186.  Donations of $100 or more will be acknowledged on the wall upon request.  Donations of $500 or more will be rewarded with an art-quality print of the finished masterpiece.  Want to sponsor a building?  For $1,000, your family or company name will go right under it!

For more information, check these out:
Facebook Page
Blog
http://www.waukeshamural.com/