Hello family and friends!

I hope you are doing well and loving summertime! For those that don’t know, I signed up to run my first marathon this October! I picked up running again last year and found a wonderful running club that inspired me. I decided to run the Chicago Marathon due to its reputation of having a great fan crowd. (I’ve been told there will be people lining the streets all 26.2 miles!)

Back in November, while I was still on the fence about committing to Chicago, I was attending a GVSU Autism Training. At that training I was introduced to a group called OAR (Organization for Autism Research). I went to their home page and the front banner read “Run The Chicago Marathon With Us”. It felt like a sign, so I signed up that night to run with their 2022 RUN FOR AUTISM Chicago Marathon Team.

My commitment to running on their team involves me raising $2000. This money goes directly to support OAR’s mission to fund research and resources that help people with autism and their families. They create curriculum for teachers, safety guides for families, education for teaching non-autistic students about autism, and grants/scholarships!

Every dollar counts, even a $10 donation is greatly appreciated!




MY CONNECTION TO AUTISM:

Back in middle school, I had my first encounter with someone who is autistic when I met my friend Rachel. Being her friend and learning about her mom’s journey of helping her communicate and work through challenging behaviors, inspired me to be the autism teacher I am today.

I currently work at Pine Grove Learning Center as the middle school autism teacher. Most of my students are nonverbal. My job is to help my students find ways to communicate, learn to navigate their emotions, be safe, grow in independence and build confidence in themselves.




WHY RUN FOR AUTISM?

1 in 54 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism. By joining the RUN FOR AUTISM team, I am supporting OAR’s mission to fund research and resources that help people with autism and their families.

Here are some of the ways that OAR uses the funds raised by the RUN FOR AUTISM team:

$10 provides a Curriculum in a Box professional development set to general education teachers.
$25 provides 15 copies of A Guide to Safety to families and first responders.
$100 provides the Kit for Kids peer education resource to an entire elementary or middle school.
$150 provides 100 copies of a Life Journey through Autism guidebook sent to a community support group or military installation.
$1,000 provides a research grant for a graduate student studying autism.
$3,000 provides a scholarship for a student with autism to attend college.
$40,000 fully underwrites an applied research pilot study.