On Apr. 19, the school has just accepted a donation of a thousand dollars to the Best Buddies club. This is meant to help with the construction and organization of the new Best Buddies room and for further development of the program in the school.

Alumni. Timi Dutcher Nichols, from the class of 1962, with other alumni had gotten together in their 55th high school reunion – which took place in Oct. of 2017 – to donate any money towards a club in the school. After much research and thought debating between different options in the school, the group decided to donate their earning to the Best Buddies club. “We knew we wanted to give something back to Gables, as we all had had such a wonderful, memorable and meaningful time there, and we wanted the donation to make the greatest impact,” Mrs. Nichols said.

During Oct. of 2017, a small group consisting of Laz Hernandez, an assistant principal, and Alysia D’Alemberte, SPED educator and sponsor of Best Buddies got together to make this decision. After Nichols met with a few of the program’s members, including the president Thomas Harley, and his buddy Peter Dewit, was deeply touched by the positive effects of their friendship.

“The School has provided a large, dedicated Best Buddies’ room.  As the room will need to be completely redone, including furniture, paint, flooring, etc., we felt that this would be the best use of our donation. We are happy to be able to contribute to this wonderful project,” Mrs. Nichols said.

Today, Mrs. Nichols got to meet five other members of the program, which all brought a smile to her face.