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Best Buddies Champion of the YearBest Buddies Champion of the Year
Best Buddies Champion of the YearBest Buddies Champion of the Year
  • About Champions
    • Nominate a Champion
    • Circle of Champions
    • FAQ
    • Find Other Events
  • About Best Buddies
  • RSVP
  • Donate
    • Support a Champion
    • General Event Donation
  • Login

Champion of the Year: Minnesota

unites and recognizes the community’s most active leaders in the name of inclusion.

November 10, 2023

6:00 PM – 11:00 PM | Minneapolis, MN

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Best Buddies Champion of the Year is a competitive fundraising campaign that unites and recognizes leaders of inclusion in local communities nationwide.

Champion Candidates commit to raising funds and awareness for Best Buddies throughout their campaign. Our Champions advocate for the Best Buddies mission and will generate countless opportunities for friendships, jobs, and leadership development. At the Best Buddies Champion of the Year celebration, we honor the Champions’ collective impact and name the ultimate Champion of the Year!

Registration Deadline: Ticket sales will close on Friday, October 27th or when the event sells out. Don’t wait to purchase your tickets – last year we sold out!

Event Features: Your ticket includes passed hors d’oeuvres, drinks from the hosted bar, plated dinner with wine pour, dessert, live entertainment, and access to the silent auction, live auction, and other games throughout the evening.

We hope to raise $270,000 at this event – all funds will be used locally to support Best Buddies programs and participants in Minnesota. You can support Best Buddies and help us continue to provide meaningful opportunities to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities by supporting a Champion’s campaign, purchasing tickets, becoming a corporate sponsor, donating to and/or participating in the auction, or making a general donation to the cause.

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Thank You!!!

Thank you for participating in this year’s Champion of the Year event! Because of you, we were able to raise funds to sustain and help expand our Best Buddies programs in the area. We look forward to having you at next year’s event. With your help and support, our mission of inclusion lives on!

Schedule

Friday, November 10, 2023
6:00 PM – Door Opens, Registration, Hosted Bar & Silent Auction
7:30 PM – Dinner, Program, and Live Auction with WCCO’s A.J. Hilton
9:15 PM – Champion of the Year Announcement
9:30 PM – After Party with The Sessions Duet
11:00 PM– Event Concludes

Location

Quincy Hall
1325 Quincy St NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

Event Contact

KateyDeMarais@bestbuddies.org

Meet our 2023 Champion Candidates…

Nominate a Champion

Patrick Elmore and mission partner, Jessica Scheu

Congrats to our 2022 Minnesota Champion of the Year

 

Patrick Elmore and mission partner, Jessica Scheu

Raised $68,000 for Best Buddies in Minnesota

 

Click here for our Nationwide Champion Winners

A Glimpse of the Party…

  • Enthusiastic Best Buddy participant at podium giving a speech
  • Male Buddy Pair at podium giving a speech
  • Group of three gala attendees smiling for the camera
  • Gala attendees holding up auction bid signs
  • Buddy dancing
  • Group photo
  • Female Buddy Pair on stage with their hands in the air in celebration
  • Dinner table
Best Buddies logo

Why Participate...

All funds raised benefit Best Buddies – the world’s largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Our programs empower the special abilities of people with IDD by helping them form meaningful friendships with their peers, secure successful jobs, live independently, improve public speaking, self-advocacy and communication skills, and feel valued by society.

The IDD community that Best Buddies serves includes, but is not limited to, people with Down Syndrome, Autism, Fragile X, Williams Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, traumatic brain injury and other undiagnosed disabilities.

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We Love our Sponsors!

  • Winning Pathways Foundation
  • Voyage logo
  • Donors Blatz and Page
  • ABDO Sponsor Logo
  • Bellmont Partners Sponsor Logo
  • First Light Sponsor Logo
  • AON Sponsor Logo

For sponsorship opportunities and other event inquiries, please contact:

KateyDeMarais@bestbuddies.org