Fun & Friends

11/20/2025

🦃 Turkey Day is only ONE week away! As much as we look forward to family gatherings, we all know the holidays can sometimes feel overwhelming, especially for those who are neurodivergent or have a sensory processing disorder. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as we make our plans to gather and give thanks next week.

🤎 At Fun & Friends we are thankful for all of those who practice kindness, understanding and flexibility, as well as those who strive to provide comfortable, inclusive experiences for everyone!

11/20/2025

🎫 Golden Ticket Hour is upon us! If you could please share this post, tagging Fun & Friends and using the hashtag , we would much appreciate it!!! Let's WIN this prize 🤩

It's GOLDEN TICKET TIME!!!

During the next three-hour window, nonprofits who share this post and use the hashtag will be eligible to win a prize! Individuals can also share the post, tag their favorite nonprofit, and use our hashtag to give that nonprofit another entry. Winner will be randomly chosen from all entries at 12pm CT/ 11am MT.

11/19/2025

📊 Just the facts, Jack! Who doesn't love some good data?! Well, we've broken Fun & Friends down into some solid numbers for you 🤓

3️⃣ Active programs for individuals with disabilities of all ages.

1️⃣2️⃣ Passionate board & committee members volunteering their time to make it all happen!

5️⃣1️⃣ Inclusive events have been hosted by Fun & Friends so far this year, all at no cost to attend!

3️⃣7️⃣1️⃣ Local members are in our three private Facebook groups for parents.

4️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ People attended our largest event yet, the Family-Friendly Disability Resource Expo back in April.

💚 We are in the fifth week of our South Dakota Gives challenges, leading up to GivingTuesday. This week, they asked us to share about our organization through facts. We think the numbers speak for themselves!

🗓️ If you're interested in helping us reach our fundraising goal this year, mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 2nd! Ready to donate now? Our Giving Tuesday campaign is now LIVE 🔗https://givebutter.com/Fwnf51

11/17/2025

Last week we wrapped up our Fall Young Athletes session! Thank you to Special Olympics South Dakota for allowing us to partner with you on these amazing events. Shout out to our Young Athletes coordinator Alyssa for volunteering your time to make this partnership happen. And of course, thank you to our Augie Access intern Jean for capturing the fun through photos 📸. If you have pictures that you took during the session, you are welcome to add those in the comments of this post!

Stay tuned for updates on future Young Athletes sessions!

11/14/2025

😁 We can't stop smiling thinking about our Teen & Adult Cooking Class, and we hope these photos bring a smile to your face too!

👨‍🍳 Earlier this week, we invited our teens and adults to come cook with us! Each participant left the event with two fully prepared meals that they made themselves, with help from a dedicated volunteer. They also made their own pizza to have for dinner while there! It was a busy night, but SO fun!

💙 A huge THANK YOU goes out to our board member Kelly for taking the lead on this event. She chose the recipes, ordered the groceries (some serious math was involved!), coordinated the volunteers, made all the Fun & Friends aprons for attendees to take home, and kept us all in line during the event 😜

🐷 This event wouldn't have been possible without olthe help of our partners for the evening Pipestone - Helping Farmers, who were our volunteers and sponsors for this event. They were so kind, patient, and fun! Their sponsorship allowed for us to send each participant home with a little something extra too! Along with their meals, they all received a Fun & Friends apron, a cutting board, a set of knives, and measuring cups so that they can continue cooking at home!

🏫 And thank you to Brandon Valley High School for allowing us to use your facilities for this event.

👥 If you are the parent of a teen or adult with a disability, rare disease, genetic condition or who is on the spectrum, you are welcome to join our private parent group here: Fun & Friends' Teen & Adult Parent Group

11/13/2025

💙 An extra special THANK YOU goes out to our friends at Pipestone - Helping Farmers for believing in our mission, supporting our organization, and helping us create a more inclusive and accessible Sioux Falls! Not only did they generously donate to Fun & Friends as the Premier Sponsor of our upcoming Winter Ball for teens and adults, they also volunteered their time at our recent teen & adult cooking event as our 1:1 volunteers for the evening and sponsored that event as well!

Fun & Friends is completely run by passionate volunteers and powered by the generosity of the community. All funds received go into programming that directly impacts the disability community of the Sioux Falls area by funding:
🚲 Equipment
📋 Administrative costs
🏢 Space rentals
🍨 Refreshments at events
📣 Advertising for upcoming events
📬 Promotional materials to spread awareness of our organization to those who could benefit.

📧 If you are a local business and are interested in learning more about our sponsorship opportunities, please email us at hello@funandfriends.org to receive our General Funds Campaign Packet.

11/12/2025

📣 The Sioux Falls Noon Sertoma Club is inviting families to learn more about their inclusive Sertoma Legacy Playground on December 9th at the Sanford USD School of Medicine in Sioux Falls. Light refreshments will be provided!

💙 We know that this playground is so needed and will be a game changer for so many families!

👀 See more details and RSVP here: Sertoma Playground Family Event

11/12/2025

🏡 Home is where the heart is, and our hearts are with the disability community!

💚 We are in the fourth week of our South Dakota Gives challenges, leading up to GivingTuesday. This week, they asked us to share about our community. Although we serve the Sioux Falls and surrounding areas, community goes beyond geography for us. Our community is the disability community.

🎤 Board member Kelly Konechne had this to say about our community, "We absolutely love serving the disability community in Sioux Falls and the surrounding areas! There’s nothing better than bringing people together, making connections, and having FUN while doing it! Community means everything to us and we think ours is something truly special!"

🗓️ If you're interested in helping us reach our fundraising goal this year, mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 2nd! Ready to donate now? Our Giving Tuesday campaign is now LIVE 🔗https://givebutter.com/Fwnf51

11/11/2025

🎁 It's tiiiiiime! We would appreciate all the support we could get this year! Please click the link in the original post to nominate Fun & Friends for this AMAZING opportunity! It will only take a minute to complete the form--promise!

Fun & Friends is run completely by volunteers and powered by the generosity of community members like yourself and philanthropic businesses like Scheels

We're giving away ✨$40,000✨ and we need you to tell us where it should go!❤️

The SCHEELS Day of Giving is back and we are ready to donate $40K to local non-profits. Here's where we need you! Nominate your FAVORITE non-profit now!
🎁 https://bit.ly/3WObHwB 🎁

The top 8 nominees will each receive $5,000! And this year we are spreading the love to organizations that have never received this before. What are you waiting for!? Click that button above! 🤗

Voting closes Tuesday, November 18th at midnight. Recipients will be announced on Giving Tuesday, December 2nd!

11/08/2025

📸 It's been a while since we've had a photo roundup from our Augie Access intern Jean, so we asked her to put together a slideshow of all the pictures she's been taking at our Young Athletes Fall Session program that we've been doing in collaboration with Special Olympics South Dakota!

👀 We hope you check out the video below! We appreciate all Jean's hard work: coming to events, taking pictures, organizing them in online folders and then making fun presentations like this!

11/04/2025

🔑 Collaboration is KEY and we have the privilege of collaborating frequently with Special Olympics South Dakota.

💚 We are in the third week of our South Dakota Gives challenges, leading up to GivingTuesday, and this week they asked us to share about a collaboration in which all collaborators accomplish more that they could on their own.

⭐ Through our partnership with SOSD, we are able to bring programs to life for our community, such as the Young Athletes Fall Session which is happening now! Our ongoing collaboration has allowed us to elevate our programming, expand our event offerings, and extend our reach in the community. Thank you SOSD for always being generous & passionate collaborators.

🗓️ If you're interested in helping us reach our fundraising goal this year, mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 2nd!

10/31/2025

🛗 Nadene might not have caught you in an elevator, but we hope she has your attention! Check out her version of the Fun & Friends "elevator pitch" below!

💚 We are in the second week of our South Dakota Gives challenges, leading up to GivingTuesday, and this week they asked us to upload a short video about our organization: who we are, what we do, and most importantly, if we had an elevator ride to tell someone about our mission, what would we say?

🗓️ If you're interested in helping us reach our fundraising goal this year, mark your calendars for Tuesday, December 2nd!