{"id":11378,"date":"2025-10-30T12:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T19:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/?p=11378"},"modified":"2025-10-30T12:09:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T19:09:52","slug":"21st-annual-buddy-walk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/news\/21st-annual-buddy-walk\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope Participants Celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month at the 21st Annual Buddy Walk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt took the stage as DJ, and Hayley cheered with her pom poms as they invited everyone to join the Silicon Valley Down Syndrome Network (SVDSN) 21st Annual Buddy Walk<\/strong><\/span>. This year\u2019s event was extra special\u2014how perfect that it marked the 21st<\/em> Buddy Walk, just like the extra 21st chromosome that makes our loved ones with Down syndrome so extraordinary.<\/p>\n

The celebration filled San Jose with smiles, music, and community spirit. Hope participants Matt and Hayley were among the day\u2019s highlights. Matt kept the crowd dancing behind the DJ booth, while Hayley brought her infectious energy to the stage with the Brown Bag Cheer Team.<\/p>\n

The event holds deep meaning for Matt\u2019s family. His mom, Janet, launched the very first Buddy Walk, and Matt has been its DJ since 2018\u2014spinning tunes that keep everyone moving. Matt attended Hope Services in San Jose and worked at Home Depot in the plant section through our Employment, Media, and Community Connections program. \u201cEvery day he\u2019s happy to be at Hope,\u201d Janet shared. \u201cIf he knows we\u2019re going to Hope, he\u2019s ready within minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayley, who attended the College of Adaptive Arts, has also flourished through her connection with Hope. \u201cWe love Hope,\u201d said her mom, Laura. \u201cIt\u2019s been good for Hayley to build a community and a routine she can count on.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Buddy Walk felt like a family reunion\u2014filled with joy, connection, and a shared commitment to inclusion. A heartfelt thank-you to the SVDSN and everyone who helped make this milestone celebration so memorable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt took the stage as DJ, and Hayley cheered with her pom poms as they invited everyone to join the Silicon Valley Down Syndrome Network (SVDSN) 21st Annual Buddy Walk. This year\u2019s event was extra special\u2014how perfect that it marked the 21st Buddy Walk, just like the extra 21st chromosome that makes our loved ones…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":11379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[206],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[102,1092,441,99,506,1204,443,168,1323],"class_list":["post-11378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpautop"],"yoast_head":"\nHope Participants Celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month at the 21st Annual Buddy Walk | Hope Services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow\" \/>\n<meta name=\"googlebot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"bingbot\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/news\/21st-annual-buddy-walk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hope Participants Celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month at the 21st Annual Buddy Walk | Hope Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Matt took the stage as DJ, and Hayley cheered with her pom poms as they invited everyone to join the Silicon Valley Down Syndrome Network (SVDSN) 21st Annual Buddy Walk. This year\u2019s event was extra special\u2014how perfect that it marked the 21st Buddy Walk, just like the extra 21st chromosome that makes our loved ones…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/news\/21st-annual-buddy-walk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hope Services\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-30T19:01:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-30T19:09:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Buddy-Walk.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/\",\"name\":\"Hope Services\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/news\/21st-annual-buddy-walk\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Buddy-Walk.png\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":540},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/news\/21st-annual-buddy-walk\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/news\/21st-annual-buddy-walk\/\",\"name\":\"Hope Participants Celebrate Down Syndrome Awareness Month at the 21st Annual Buddy Walk | Hope Services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/news\/21st-annual-buddy-walk\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-30T19:01:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-30T19:09:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c7b878f308cad9f6e7a57512c32219ee\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/news\/21st-annual-buddy-walk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":[\"Person\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/#\/schema\/person\/c7b878f308cad9f6e7a57512c32219ee\",\"name\":\"Hope_Author\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/39bc61f80408993571a6bac3385eca90b19a9e1880ebe2a3e5d44666cb5da117?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Hope_Author\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11378"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hopeservices.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}