The Clubhouse

The Highland Friendship Club is all about getting together with friends for fun, service activities and new adventures. Sometimes, we do all three things at once! Our schedule of activities is updated often so keep checking the Calendar. Here are some of the things you can do with Highland Friendship Club:

Make friends!
Socializing is an important part of the Club! Our members come from all over St. Paul and other places in the Twin Cities. The Highland Friendship Club offers many different ways to meet new friends and share new experiences. Open mike nights, karaoke, and movie nights let you meet other members who share your interests. Highland Friendship Club members also get together for sporting events and can be found rooting for the home team at many Cretin-Derham Hall sporting events. Or, you can choose to just hang out.

Explore your artistic side!
Art is a great way to express yourself, get your hands dirty and create a masterpiece! The Highland Friendship Club works with local artists to offer jewelry-making classes, painting and drawing classes, craft projects and other hands-on opportunities. Or, if you like being the center of attention, you can get involved in our music program, jam with friends, even join the circus!

Be adventurous!
If you're looking for adventure, then be sure to look for Highland Friendship Club events that offer more challenges like indoor rock-climbing, canoeing and hiking events. The Highland Friendship Club partners with community organizations trained to work with people with disabilities to ensure a safe and interesting experience.

Give back!
The Highland Friendship Club is committed to helping the greater community. Our members are active volunteers and, as a group, we hold annual food drives, help in neighborhood clean-up activities, participate in holiday bell-ringing and prepare boxes of toiletries to give to local homeless shelters. These service activities are a lot of fun and support the community - everybody wins!

Become more independent!
One of our goals is to help our members become more independent and get ready for a more adult life in the community. An important part of achieving that is getting important skills that will help you be successful. The Highland Friendship Club often offers workshops on personal health, personal finances, job-hunting ideas and self-advocacy to help you become more independent.

How does the friendship club do this?
The Highland Friendship Club is successful because everyone works together - our staff, our members, their families, our volunteers, local businesses and community organizations. Want to learn more about how you can help? Click here!

How much does it cost?
Membership in the Highland Friendship Club is free, however, most of our activities and events require a ticket or entrance fee. Check the Calendar to find out how much an event costs. If your budget is tight and you can't afford to participate in an event, don't let that stop you! Some very generous Highland Friendship Club supporters have provided a special fund to cover the expenses of members who can't afford to pay.

Click here for a registration form (Adobe PDF).

Getting there

The Highland Friendship Club does not provide transportation to and from events and activities - yet. You are responsible for arranging your own transportation. However, many members arrange their own carpools to share the driving. If you want the names of people signed up to attend a particular event, send us an email at info@highlandfriendshipclub.org

When you arrive at an activity
Highland Friendship Club staff needs to know when you've arrived at an event. We've come up with some simple check-in procedures that let us know you're here and let you get on with the fun!

When you come to an HFC activity or event, there will be a person at the door to greet you. We ask parents and caregivers to come into the building where the event or activity is being held with the club member. We ask you to do this so that a staff person/volunteer can do the following:

sign the member in
get any important information about the club member
write down a phone number where the parent/caregiver can be reached during the activity.

Although we ask for emergency and home phone numbers on the registration forms, it is important that we have a phone number for the time period of the event so that the parent or caregiver can be reached if needed. The check-in process also gives staff the chance to check-in with parents/caregivers and find out if the club member needs special attention during the activity or event.

When you leave an activity
Sadly, the fun has to end. In most cases, the time an activity or event starts and ends is posted on the calendar so you can make your transportation arrangements. Before you leave, you're expected to make sure that the club member(s) you have dropped off has a caregiver/parent to bring them home or to another activity.

It is very important that club members are safely transported home from an HFC activity. Staff/volunteers will not let a club member leave on their own unless we have instructions in writing from a parent indicating that the club member has their permission to leave without a parent/caregiver.

It is important that the caregiver/parent come into the building where the event or activity is held to pick up the club member so that they get program updates or an individual update about their club member's experience from staff or volunteers. Our staff won't leave until everyone has been picked up by a parent or a caregiver. If you have made arrangements with someone else to pick up your child, like another club member's parent or sibling, just let us know when you drop them off and we'll make a note of it on the sign-in sheet.

Sign me up!

Signing up for Highland Friendship Club events is easy. Simply fill in the sign-up form for the activity or event you want to attend, then email it or mail it to info@highlandfriendshipclub.org . Mail forms to Highland Friendship Club is P.O. Box 16437, St. Paul, MN 55116

Don't forget to fill in the registration forms and sign the waivers! Every member needs to complete these forms and mail them to us so we can keep them on file. The registration and waiver forms must be signed by a member, parent or caregiver and must be mailed to Highland Friendship Club, P.O. Box 16437, St. Paul, MN 55116.

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We want to hear from you. Click here to send us an email with your ideas, suggestions and questions.