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Buddies Helping BuddiesShelby County, Indiana Stand With Us
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A circle of people reaching their hands in to the middle.

Who we are

Neighbors, mostly

Buddies Helping Buddies is a grassroots nonprofit founded by people in this community, for people in this community. Not an outpost of something bigger. Just Shelby County.

The idea

Standing by the
people we love

Almost everyone here came to this work the same way. Somebody they loved was struggling with mental health, with addiction, or with losing their footing entirely, and the help that existed was either too far away, too slow, or too full of forms.

So the answer was small and stubborn. Be the people who pick up. Provide essential resources and compassionate support to anyone in this county facing mental health challenges, addiction, and temporary crisis. Then keep showing up after the crisis passes, which is the part most systems miss.

Buddies helping buddies. The name is the entire strategy.

Who is actually behind this

Ten neighbors,
nobody paid

Every person on this board volunteered because this work reached them personally first. Veterans, a police officer, people in recovery, parents. They wrote their own introductions and we did not tidy the hard parts out of them.

Tabitha Renbarger, Board PresidentTabitha Brandon Smith, Board Vice President and TreasurerBrandon Jessica Montgomery, Board SecretaryJessica Dane Bandy, Board MemberDane Ricky Becktel, Board MemberRicky Kiel Bensheimer, Board MemberKiel Lacey Griggs, Board MemberLacey Thomas Miller, Board MemberThomas John Renbarger, Board MemberJohn Britain White, Board MemberBritain
Meet the board
The Buddies Helping Buddies logo: a head in profile inside a double circle, with the words Buddies Helping Buddies and the line Because everyone needs help sometimes.

Because everyone needs help sometimes.

One family, three fronts

Three organizations,
one promise

We work alongside two affiliated organizations in Shelby County. They reach different people through different doors, and they share the same conviction.

Parent organization

Buddies Helping Buddies

Mental health, addiction and recovery, and temporary crisis. The front door for anybody in the county who needs one.

Affiliated

Shelby County Veteran Response Team

Veterans in crisis or at risk, active duty service members, police, fire, and other first responders. Currently in training, with a target launch of April 2027.

Visit

Affiliated

Shelby County Suicide Prevention Coalition

Prevention through education, support, and advocacy, and the community work of ending the stigma.

Visit

Find us

Get in touch

A person reads every message. If it is urgent, please use the crisis numbers on the get help page first, then write to us afterwards.

buddieshelpingbuddies@gmail.com Facebook
  • Shelbyville, Indiana 46176
  • A registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, EIN 33-2757442

“Standing by those we love who are battling mental health challenges.”

Our mission, unchanged since the first day