Buddy Walk Returns In Person at Battleship Park to Raise Funds and Down Syndrome Awareness

The Coastal Alabama Down Syndrome Society’s biggest day of the year is back in person. The annual Buddy Walk moved to USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park this year after outgrowing its longtime downtown Mobile location, with festivities kicking off Saturday morning at 8:30.

Organizers were glad to gather face to face again after COVID-19 forced a virtual walk the year before, but the pandemic still shaped the event. Walkers who could do so were asked to wear masks — a request made with the many immunocompromised participants in mind — and sanitation stations were placed throughout the park. Activities got some safety-conscious updates too: an open-air dance floor for enjoying the DJ, along with crafts, games, and game trucks.

The Buddy Walk is CADSS’s single fundraiser of the year, and the dollars stretch across a wide range of family support programs. The group sends parents and caregivers to conferences on Down syndrome topics, brings in speakers to help families navigate individualized education programs and work with school systems, and runs age-based programs including art lessons through a partnership with Coastal Makers Art Studio and parent-child playdates hosted at We Rock the Spectrum in Daphne.

The organization has also put funds toward adaptive equipment for its youngest members, buying pediatric treadmills that help toddlers learn to walk and adaptive tricycles that teach them to ride.

Beyond the fundraising, organizers say awareness is the point: young adults with Down syndrome are holding jobs and pursuing higher education across the area, and events like the walk showcase what they can accomplish.

About the Buddy Walk and Down syndrome

The Buddy Walk is a program of the National Down Syndrome Society, and walks are held in communities across the country, many of them in October, which is Down Syndrome Awareness Month.

Down syndrome occurs when a person has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is the most common chromosomal condition diagnosed in the United States.