About DSNO Buddy Walk®

We look forward to gathering together once again for the DSNO Buddy Walk® at Millennium Plaza Park in Lake Oswego on September 22nd, 2024!  Buddy Walk® is the premier advocacy event for Down syndrome in the U.S. and the most widely recognized public awareness program for the Down syndrome community globally, and the DSNO Buddy Walk® is DSNO’s primary and biggest fundraising effort of the year. Over 95% of funds raised stay in our local community.

For more than 20 years, 501(c)(3) nonprofit Down Syndrome Network Oregon (DSNO) has hosted its annual Buddy Walk® event and fundraiser at Millennium Plaza Park on a Sunday in late September. The morning-to-afternoon event typically draws several hundred to nearly a thousand people in a celebration and gathering with friends, family, neighbors, classmates, volunteers and supporters around several dozen Buddy Teams. The DSNO Buddy Walk® is a high-energy, fun-filled gathering appropriate for all ages, featuring activities and vendors, a brief program, a short, accessible group walk, lunch, time for gathering and socializing, music and dance performances, and a community resource fair. Each year, we gather to welcome and connect new families into our local Down syndrome community, and this event is a great way to plug in, relax, meet others and show your support for your loved ones and their friends and be part of a positive, loving, inclusive community that welcomes all.

Funds raised at the DSNO Buddy Walk® support growing our infrastructure benefitting our local Down syndrome community (Portland-area, SW Washington, and Willamette Valley) to put on dozens of local DSNO programs year-round for hundreds of families, including: DSNOFit exercise class, DSNO Dance Clinics, Family Summer Kick-off Event, Sports Camp, Hip-Hop Dance Camp, Mom’s Night Out, Mom’s Coffee, Mom’s Beach Retreat, Dad’s Hangouts, Boo Bash, Jingle Ball, and many more.