Best Buddies Friendship Walk raises money and awareness in Champaign [Video]

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — Thursday morning was full of smiles, cheering and lots of fun at Edison Middle School in Champaign. The “Best Buddies Friendship Walk” was all to support and celebrate the Best Buddies program.

“We like to say it’s our biggest party for inclusion in the state,” Rebecca Impens, the communications and stewardship director, said. “This is a celebration of all of the work that our participants, our schools, our ambassadors and our job participants have done all year long.”

Best Buddies is an international non-profit aiming to create friendships between students and their peers with disabilities. Because of it, Zander Hackman and Andrew Pierce have created a lifelong bond as buddies at Centennial High School.

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“We are together to succeed in life,” Pierce described. “I really enjoy being able to do those fun things out in the world. We’re …