Best Buddy friendships are all about give and take

Published 12:41 pm Friday, March 22, 2024

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a two-part series on the GCSU Best Buddies program. The first part was featured in the March 16-17 Weekend Edition and is available on our website, www.unionrecorder.com.

Lillian McGalliard and Georgina Babb have been friends for a few years now, and like any two pals, they enjoy a give-and-take relationship. 

“She never fails to ask me about how I’m doing as well, what my parents are up to, what my fiancée is up to, so it’s a mutual friendship for sure,” McGalliard said of Babb. “It’s not me just doing all the work.”

McGalliard and Babb met three years ago through Georgia College & State University’s Best Buddies program, which pairs GCSU students with individuals from the Life Enrichment Center — a private, nonprofit program serving adults with intellectual disabilities. 

Ellie Tropauer, a senior special education major, is president of the club. She said matches are made each fall through a meet and greet event. Afterwards, Best Buddies members and individuals from the LEC are both given a preference sheet and an interest form that helps organizers make the best matches possible. 

While club programs like movie or game nights are held once a month, matched buddies typically meet for separate outings regularly as well. 

“Sometimes it’s just us going out to eat,” McGalliard said. “Other times it’s us going to the local farmer’s market, going to a movie, things along those lines, just kind of hanging out just like I do with the rest of my friends.”

Through the years, McGalliard has gotten to know Babb well.

“Georgina’s a hoot. She is brutally honest,” she laughed, “but she’s super sweet.”

She knows the little details about Babb that any friend would know — things like her love for the Georgia Bulldogs and her habit of calling everyone her brother and sister — and she said getting to know those things has been one of the most enjoyable parts of their relationship.

“You know when you’re getting to know friends for the first time, there’s all these fun things, all the funny things that happen and kind of just getting to know the nitty gritty about them because Georgina is one that loves to share everything…,” she said. “She’s a light.”

Babb, 48, said she has enjoyed activities with McGalliard like playing ball and games, making pumpkins, shopping and eating out with her best buddy. 

“Any time she’s around Lillian, whatever they do is fine, to be honest with you, because she really enjoys her company…,” said Babb’s sister, Cindy Smith. “She’s very compassionate. She’s fun, very patient. She’s very interested in what’s going on in Georgina’s life; very interested in spending time with her, and it shows. She’s just that type of person… We’ve been very blessed to have Miss Lillian.”

After graduation, McGalliard will teach in the middle Georgia area, and she said she will continue to maintain her friendship with Babb. Sheryl Folsom, Best Buddies coordinator at the LEC, said that’s a goal of the program. 

“All buddies are not the same … but we have buddies who have graduated college, gone on, and we’ve had some of our individuals who have been in their weddings. Some of them call back for happy birthday wishes and are friends on Facebook, so a lot of times it’s not just for the day,” she said. “A lot of times they become friends for life, and that’s what we’re looking for. We know that it’s not always gonna be that way, but [those are] always the best matches.”

Barbara Coleman, executive director of the LEC, said the program offers individuals and their buddies a unique opportunity to see the world through each other’s eyes. 

“So, our individuals get an opportunity to have a glimpse of college life, social life outside and to develop friendships and memories that they’ll carry forever,” she said. “Our people will always remember their buddies. Even when their buddies move on, they always remember, and they look forward to that contact. They look forward to having that person that’s their special friend; that person that is doing something for them — to show up to take them to lunch, surprise them on their birthday, organize group events. They have that special buddy that is theirs.”

Tropauer has learned that when it comes to friendship, most everyone is looking for the same kinds of things.

“I think it really teaches you that at the end of the day, no matter who you are, you want the same things,” she said. “You want a friend, you want to be loved, you want to be accepted, and I think Best Buddies really shows how to be inclusive…”

As McGalliard looks back at the time she’s spent with Babb thus far, she’s hopeful that she has made a lasting impact on her life still centered on that give-and-take model of friendship.

“I hope that she has found a friend in me, too, and doesn’t feel lonely because for a lot of those adults, it can get really lonely,” she said. “The only friends they have might be at the center they go to and the family they have.”

Smith knows that McGalliard and the program itself have indeed made a mark on her sister’s life.

“It has really fulfilled her life in ways that we didn’t anticipate…,” she said. “It is one of the best things that she’s ever been involved in. They enrich the life of the special needs very much. … Even though Georgina is blessed — she has a home that she lives in; she doesn’t live in a group home — she has really benefited from being able to make those new relationships.”

For more information, visit www.bestbuddies.org.