What can we say...truly humbled and grateful to have seen so many people show up for our first annual Autism Awareness
AUPTIMISM Walkathon. We had over 200 people, and the weather smiled on us that day.
As you can see the front of our T-shirts holds our logo - a heart with a missing piece. The reason is: Our children are the heart of our hearts and we're continuously striving to find that missing puzzle piece.
Over the next week we'll give you a chronological play by play of the day's event to give you a better idea of the behind the scenes action and to bring this awesome picturesque day before you.
Let's start off first with the planning. Many told us there is no way we'd get a walkathon ready for this year. Takes over a year to plan. And you know what? They're right...in a sense. This year we wanted to bring families together to get to know us so there was no need for the grandeur display you might see in other walkathons. We simply wanted families to meet/mingle/and talk to each other, meet various centers and therapists, walk with us, and have a great time. These aspects we accomplished according to the feedback from parents.
This day, however, would never have happened with such a low budget we had to work with if it wasn't for our amazing sponsors who truly stepped in and helped us in so many ways. You can see the list of sponsors for our 2009 Walkathon
HERE.Litsa, my partner and co-writer, did an awesome job. Her legs took her all over Montreal, meeting and greeting sponsors, talking up a storm about our cause, picking up and delivering the registration forms, and so much more. This lady I am sure works off an endless supply of EverReady Batteries. LOL! This is why we make a great team because both of us work on different things and never clash nor complain.
So, everything seemed to be going smoothly in the beginning and we were thrilled and finally relaxed enough to uncross our fingers. Maybe we should have kept them crossed. Although we were told that within 2 - 3 weeks we should have our charity registration number, we went ahead with that knowledge and set up our registration forms. Almost 2 months later we called the government office again only to be informed it would take 6-9 months to be assigned an agent. From the whole outline and preparations we
had done up to that point, this was the only disappointment. However, misinformation abounds and we chalked this up to a learning opportunity. We immediately made a note on our website that this year's walkathon will be a non-taxable donation. However, we did take everyone's information in the hopes we do get our go-ahead to issue receipts before the 2010 tax month rolls around. Keep reading this block for updates on that.
In-between the preparations for the walkathon, we continued writing our book and offering our first conference with guest speakers at the DDO library, hosted on April 30th. This was a great experience for us because we had the opportunity to meet parents face-to-face for the first time. In April, Litsa and I also visited an elementary school and performed a short skit. It's actually Litsa's and Nia Morfonio's upcoming children's picture book SARAH'S SOCK SCENE, contracted by Guardian Angel Publishing about a young girl who is sensitive to textures...socks in particular. I was the narrator and Litsa played the part of Sarah. Can we tell you the kids had a blast, especially when 'Sarah/Litsa' pulled out these funky furry/balled/colored socks out of my jacket. Everyone - except me - wanted to touch them.
But I've strayed from the Walkathon - more to come in Part Two but before we say goodbye for now Litsa and I want to send out HUGE thank you's to our sponsors, our awesome volunteers, to the centers and therapists/representatives who were present talking with parents, to our DJ and his dancing music to set the mood, and to the children and parents who came out to have a great time with us.
THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. Please stay tuned for more in Part Two...coming to our blog very soon.
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