Photos courtesy of the Friendship Circle
Since its beginnings in 2000, the Friendship Circle has been a source of comfort and hope for disabled individuals and their families in the New Albany community and beyond.
Out of 79 locations worldwide, New Albany’s was the second one to open, says Director Esther Kaltmann.
Related: The Cardio Kids
The fastest-growing Jewish organization for children with special needs, the Friendship Circle is open to families of all backgrounds, regardless of faith. The organization aims to pair up children with special needs and high school and college-aged volunteers, hoping to foster long-lasting relationships that help the children develop their social skills, feelings of belonging and self-confidence.
“All the students will come back and visit their buddies for years after college,” Kaltmann says. “Some kids will specifically come back to visit their buddies.”
The organization, which spreads across the world into various countries, has helped about 5,000 people thanks to the contributions of almost 11,000 volunteers. The New Albany chapter has assisted about 500 families, with nearly 1,200 teen and college volunteers, Kaltmann says.
On the Path: Beyond the Brown Bag
The organization is not limited to specific special needs, Kaltmann says. Anyone – high or low functioning, moderate to severe – is welcome.
Alongside relationship-building, the Friendship Circle and LifeTown, an educational center designed for children with special needs, also help participants prepare for a world outside school. They can learn how to write a resume and participate in mock job interviews.
“Teachers can see their progress in school; they can see them interacting,” Kaltmann says. “LifeTown helps them transfer those skills.”
About five years ago, the organization changed the life of Hilliard resident Kelly Schulze as well as the lives of her family.
Schulze learned she needed to have a spinal fusion. She was teaching at Bexley High School, and many of her students knew she had an autistic son, Khoury. When word of her major surgery got around, Schulze says, a student’s parent recommended the Friendship Circle as a helpful resource.
“Literally two weeks after my surgery, it all happened so quickly,” Schulze says. “These OSU boys came to the house, and they were with us for three years.”
The two “buddies” would come to the house on Sundays, Schulze says, and would typically help out for an hour or two.
The buddies gave Khoury an opportunity to develop friendships – something he was not exactly accustomed to. While Khoury is very high-functioning, Schulze says, it wasn’t until her daughter was born that she realized there was something different about her son.
“She had play dates, but he’d never been invited anywhere,” Schulze says. “It was interesting, because when the guys would come he would light up. He would prepare what they were going to do. He was so excited because it was something so different. The boys really became part of our family.”
Even after the two helpers graduated, Schulze says, they still manage to be a part of Khoury’s life. Last year, on Khoury’s birthday, one of the buddies was in Chicago while the other was in Cincinnati. They conference called and sang Khoury “Happy Birthday.”
The Schulzes were merely getting their feet wet with the buddies’ home visits.
“I didn’t understand what we were getting into,” Schulze says. “Then I realized the Friendship Circle was pretty colorful.”
As it turned out, her increased involvement would lead to even more benefits. Last year, Schulze began to face even more difficulties as her now 11-year-old son began to grow up.
“As Khoury’s gotten older and getting closer to puberty, I found myself, last year, having a hard time juggling teaching and going to appointments,” she says. Schulze decided to quit her job and stay at home full-time.
But last fall, she had the opportunity to join the Friendship Circle team. Now, Schulze works with parent outreach. She focuses quite a bit on letting future participants know they don’t have to be Jewish to benefit from the organization.
The Friendship Circle has also helped Schulze rearrange Khoury’s schedule and add more structure to it.
“We’re balancing it more,” she says. “I really saw that we were spending a lot of time with our daughter, like going to Girl Scouts and soccer. But I realized all of my appointments with Khoury were for counseling or doctors. None of (the appointments) were for fun stuff.”
Khoury participates in the Friendship Circle’s walking club. The walking club includes high school-aged Friendship Circle volunteers who walk with children with special needs every Sunday. The club met during the fall months, Kaltmann says, but will start meeting again in the spring.
“They would walk on the beautiful New Albany trails,” Kaltmann says. “The parents loved that their children were part of a club and felt a sense of belonging and acceptance.”
When Khoury returned home from the walking club, Schulze says, he had a story to tell.
“He came home, and he said, ‘I met people just like me,’” she says. She added that, at the walking club, Khoury met a girl who had more challenges than he did.
He became something of a cheerleader for her.
“It was a neat way for the roles to sort of switch, and it allowed him to become a quasi-buddy,” Schulze says. “For him, (the Friendship Circle) has really changed how we can incorporate things into our lives. It’s easier.”
Attending outings with other Friendship Circle parents brings about a sense of unity. Other parents, Schulze says, simply “get it.”
“There’s safety in numbers,” she says.
Now that Khoury’s original buddies have graduated and moved on, Schulze says, they have new buddies. He’ll probably have the buddies around through high school.
“We’ll have a few different sets,” Schulze says. “That way, we’ll have someone to cheer for him if he joins clubs. He’ll have someone to hang out with.”
Schulze says she hopes prospective parents can move beyond the misconception that the Friendship Circle is strictly for Jewish families and benefit from everything the organization has to offer.
“It’s a gift,” she says. “We schedule so much for our kids as far as their appointments … but we forget to schedule the fun things for our special needs child.”
Hannah Bealer is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at ssole@cityscenemediagroup.com.
