Over the summer, Senior Psychology and Pre-­Occupational Therapy Major Bryden Giving decided to sell photo prints of pictures he had taken while studying abroad.

“Originally what I was going to do was raise money to buy myself my first DSLR Camera,” Giving said. However instead of raising money for the camera, he began to raise money for his Gustie Buddy, Cole.

“For some reason I was just sitting there, I was thinking about Cole and I thought what if instead of raising money for myself I raised money for Cole,” Giving said.

According to Gustie Buddies Coordinator, Senior Biology major Meg Crosby, Gustie Buddies is a volunteer program facilitated through Gustavus.

They partner two Gustavus students with a child from the St. Peter community or surrounding areas who has a developmental delay,” Crosby said.

For the buddies and their partners, “It’s a lot of experiencing experiences that they wouldn’t necessarily have,” Sophomore Psychology major Anna St. Dennis said.

The Gustie Buddies program is growing both on campus and in the St. Peter community. “Our program is growing from year to year, immensely. We are growing by 50 percent this year which is amazing for us. It just really shows how our program is becoming more known and more trusted in the community as parents of our buddies are spreading the word about it,” Crosby said.

“It is our tenth year. That’s a pretty big milestone, so that is really exciting,” St. Dennis said.

Giving has been a part of the Gustie Buddies program since Fall of 2014.
“I love Gustie Buddies because people are taking a few hours of their time a week to be that role model for these kids. To make them feel like they are superheroes, like they’re on top of the world,” Giving said.

When he started his fundraiser, Giving’s original goal was to raise $100 to buy Cole a bike. However, Giving ended up raising a little over $2000. With that money, he was able to take Cole to the Waterpark of America and Mall of America for a weekend.

“I think he was expecting it to be a pool with a couple of slides. But when we got there his eyes were big, wide, all open. He was flipping out, he was really excited,” Giving said. Giving plans on using the remaining money from the trip to buy Cole new school clothes and school supplies for this year.

Crosby and St. Dennis didn’t know until recently what Giving had done for his Buddy, but thought that he did a great thing for Cole.

“I think that really stands for what our program is about. He is going above and beyond what we even do. I think it’s great, and it speaks to who he is as human being. He’s a great person,” Crosby said.

Giving expressed how he felt making a difference for Cole.

“Who wouldn’t feel really good doing that for somebody else let alone a wonderful, brave child. Cole’s a significant human being,” Giving said. “I loved allowing Cole to have that weekend of freedom from all of the stuff he’s going through and to make him feel like king, like he can be a kid for once.”

Giving is planning on starting another fundraiser for Cole later this year.

“Once I get my photography game a little bit stronger, a little more advanced and better, I think it would be really cool to start up another fundraiser for Cole. This time the goal would be a little bit higher,” Giving said. His new goal is to raise enough money to take Cole to Walt Disney World.

“He’s always wanted to go to Walt Disney World but he has never been to a giant amusement park like that, and he loves Disney,” Giving said.

Giving hopes that what he did will not only impact Cole, and the students working with Gustie Buddies, but will impact everyone.

“I’m looking forward to people realizing how great it is to really connect with people, not focus so much on themselves but also the people around us and in our community,” Giving said.