The 6th Annual Cleveland Walk Now for Autism
The 6th Annual Cleveland Walk for Autism will take place on Sunday, August 19 at Voinovich Park (behind the Rock Hall). Autism Speaks is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing awareness of the growing autism epidemic. This will be our 6th year walking, our 5th year with our own Team J-Walking.
Personal Journey
Autism awareness is very important to our family, and it has become our goal to bring awareness to our community. We would love your support to help create a better event and to increase autism awareness for all families who struggle with Autism Spectrum Disorder. With your dollars at work, Autism Speaks has launched numerous toolkits designed to help families address their needs, as well as provide help for research, grants, advocacy, and more.
This is a great way to meet people who have the same daily struggles and to see the diversity of backgrounds that autism affects. There are many resource tents available the day of the walk along with family fun, face painting, balloons, animals, and a beautiful slow-paced walk down by the waterfront.
I walk to honor my son, Jason, who is my pride and joy, the love of my life. I am so proud to call him my son. We as a family have endured through many obstacles and have remained strong to make a better future for our son. That is why autism awareness is so important. All these kids deserve a bright and wonderful future, and with the help of everyone, it can become a reality. Jason has taught me more than I ever could have imagined, but most of all, unconditional love. To see the world through his eyes has to be amazing; everyone and everything is beautiful and has no faults. What a wonderful world we all would live in if we could see it that way. I am not only Jason’s mother; I am his advocate, and his best friend.
We Need Community Support
With the help of the community, this walk can be bigger and better than last year. Let’s get north east Ohio on the map and show the strength of our support base. Anyone who would like to join our team, Team J-Walking, or make a general donation, visit Walk Now for Autism Speaks
How You Can Get Involved
If there is anyone who would like to sponsor our team or would like to make a monetary donation, contact me personally at jasons_ma@yahoo.com. I have all the tax information. (501c3)
I also have autism puzzle piece donation cards if any local merchants or people would like to help raise money by selling them for a dollar each. I am also going to raise money by asking all local merchants to have a “round up” jar (I will supply), where the extra change from a sale can go into a jar. With times being tough financially, I thought this would be a great way to help.
Author: Rachel Dannemiller
Rachel is a lifelong resident of Geauga County. She is married to Tom and has a son Jason, and a dog named Harley. Rachel and her family are devoted to bringing autism awareness to the community and they are organizing the local Autism Speaks event in Burton this year.