Best Buddies have a chance to give back

By Kelly White

April 13, 2010

‘GREEN WEEK’ CAPPED OFF BY RIVERSIDE PARK CLEAN UP

Two Marquette service organizations combined forces last weekend to help save the planet — a few buddies and a bit of litter at a time.

On Saturday, the Best Buddies of Marquette joined with Students for an Environmentally Active Campus to clean up Riverside Park’s Urban Ecology Center. The event served as the final activity of Green Week, an effort by several university offices and student organizations to promote awareness of environmental issues.

“Our events reflected the areas of energy efficiency, water sustainability, recycling and biodiversity,” said Victor Soto, SEAC president and a senior in the College of Engineering.

Best Buddies pairs a Marquette student with an adult who has intellectual or developmental disabilities. For the organization’s annual service project, members decided to clean up Riverside Park on Milwaukee’s East Side. Best Buddies then approached SEAC to form a Green Week partnership.

The UEC organizes weekly clean-ups of the park in the spring and worked with Best Buddies and SEAC on this project. Collectively, about 25 members from both organizations attended the clean-up.

The two organizations decided to join forces in order to promote social and environmental awareness. The Buddies and SEAC members walked the trails near the river to pick up wrappers, bottles and trash that had accumulated.

Much of the garbage picked up at the UEC was recycled right at the facility, said Grace Lilek, Best Buddies activities chair and a sophomore in the College of Education.

Chelsea Real, a sophomore in the College of Communication who also attended the clean-up, said it was informative.

“It gave us a chance to really learn about the environment, like the fact that it takes about 25 years for a cigarette to break apart,” Real said. “The amount of cigarette butts we picked up in the park was unreal.”

Lilek said the connection made between the Buddies and SEAC members was as important as the actual clean-up effort.

“I think there is a negative stigma associated with interacting with people with disabilities, but I don’t look at my experience with Best Buddies as being paired with someone with an intellectual disability. I look at it like I’m meeting a new friend,” Lilek said.

Soto also said the Buddies were helpful during the clean-up process.

“I think no matter how much trash you pick up, it’s always the intent that counts,” Soto said. “Being a SEAC member who has been at the UEC several times in the past, I was able to teach the Best Buddies a couple of things and really get them familiar with how important UEC is to the area.”

The project was a way for the two groups to unite and learn about each other’s missions, Soto said.

“For many, it was their first time at the Urban Ecology Center, and hopefully not their last time,” he said. “Before this event, I had never worked with Best Buddies, but I respected their dedication to their cause. Both of us share a similar passion (for service).”