This Summer has been a WILD RIDE! A couple months ago Melissa and I just knew it was time for my side project of autism advocacy for our Hayden and make it the driving force of life to help people with autism across the D/FW Metroplex and beyond... After hearing that now ONE in 68 children are diagnosed with autism, I just knew it was time to act. This # doesnt even count those closest to the diagnoses like parents, siblings, grandparents. When you do that math it means that out of the SEVEN MILLION People in Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex 100,000 people PLUS their families are walking through this developmental disability on a daily basis. Personally one of the toughest parts of this journey was leaving LifeChurch.tv Fort Worth as full time staff. I mean who quits one of the largest best run churches in America? Im so thankful that LifeChurch.tv has sent me out to pursue this calling, thanks again Robert Wall, Sam Roberts, Jerry Hurley, Craig Groeschel, Kevin Penry, Bobby Gruenwald, Allyson Evans, Todd Roy, Jeff Galley and so many more... What has followed this has been pretty amazing, every week opportunities have presented themselves that have been UNBELIEVABLE! My first connection with autism advocacy is a POWERHOUSE of a mentor! Shelley Hendrix runs the advocacy side of Autism Speaks or Autism Votes. For all of you who want to help our Capital hear from those with autism and special needs sign up here... autismspeaks.org/advocacy Shelley appointed me as the Texas Chair for Autism Advocacy which means... get Texans to build relationships with their elected officials and speak up for the autism community. After visiting with the office of Congress Woman Kay Granger, then connecting with Senator Ted Cruz & Senator John Cornyn (and helping others do the same). We were able to be a small part of helping get the Autism CARES Act passed which provides $1.3 Billion of federal funding for the next 5 years! I was asked to join the Walk for Autism Speaks Dallas Fort Worth Committee. Here Ive met some of the most amazing, genuine committed people, Ross Wingo, Deane, Peggy, Hailey, Heather, Nika, Olay, Beth. From cleaning the offices to putting together a Public Relations and Social Media Campaigns, its just fun volunteering with you and Im glad to call you friends! Ross, Hailey and I worked together to put a Social Media Strategy into place. Quickly weve been able to encourage a growing online community of people that we can bring inspiration and hope, motivate to make a difference and resource with helpful tools. Personally I LOVE numbers and seeing the growth of the site by 13,000% was a good week. Its so rewarding knowing that we are making a difference because hundreds of people are engaged and SHARING to reach thousands of people. The Mock Airport Experience was a great opportunity to work with American Airlines, the Dallas/Ft Worth International Airport & TSA. They invited Autism Speaks and other groups to bring kids to the airport and experience what it is like. Many of their staff were on hand to observe and fine tune their process while kids who hadnt travelled before got to take in all that is going on in an airport. Thanks again Bruce Sickler for inviting us, Hayden, Grant and I had a great time. To start the Walk for Autism Speaks, the Walk Committee put on a couple Kick Off Events. Breakfast w/ the Rays was a great morning at the Dallas Fair Grounds Childrens Aquarium. Seeing 50 people show up was great. Hearing people say they dont usually go out but they knew they would be safe and understood here was really rewarding. BIG Thanks to Leslie Griggs & Dallas Morning News for covering this event. A couple weeks later the CR Smith Aviation Museum hosted about 150 people for our second kickoff event. It was AMAZING to see so many people come together to make a difference, get tools for fundraising at the walk and have a lot of fun. The LEGO Exhibit was a definite WIN. Through it all it has been great to be able to do this alongside other longtime friends and advocates Matt & Courtney Oakes. Love cheering them on when their story was told through the Fatherhood Project w Corbyn Tyson and their appearance on the TODAY Show. A definite highlight of the summer was seeing our kids get to play together with #liamthebrave . After speaking with Pam McFadden one of the Vice Presidents of the University of North Texas, she invited me to see some of the autism research that was happening at their Campus here in Fort Worth off 7th Street. Meeting with Dr. Nicoleta and Dr Haylie Miller gave me a whole new view into the hard work of doing medical research and putting together the puzzle pieces of autism. Autism Speaks released a documentary on Netflix called Sounding the Alarm. Its a really great picture of what autism looks like. One of the stories is of Sonny Mills and all that Military Families go through. We also recognized Behavioral Innovations a local service provider and found out that Sonny is our neighbor. Glad to call him friend! Churches around the Nation have started talking about autism and no one is doing more in my opinion than Craig Johnson at Lakewood Church with the Champions Club. Theyve just opened their 20th location and have 19 more in the works around the world. Looking forward to their release of their Champions Club Curriculum which will be a resource for churches around the world. Other Mega Churches are talking about Autism from the pulpit, Andy Stanleys North Point Church just did a Sunday where his Jr High Pastor told his family story of autism diagnoses and how it effected his faith. The Healing Place shared Shelley Artemisia Hendrix story and celebrated her sons Baptism. The Catholic Diocese in DC to provide pew cards during April so that parishioners would do a better job of accepting spectrum individuals during mass and the stories keep on adding up! Over the last two weeks its been great to meet Ryan Neufeld and Dawn Belcher Neufeld Dawn Neufeld. You may recognize their names from Ryans NFL career (rookie year with Dallas Cowboys then Buffalo Bills) or when they were a part of the reality show VH1 Football Wives. Thanks Dawn for inviting Autism Speaks to be a part of The Broadcast TV and getting the word our about the Dallas/Ft. Worth Walk Now for Autism. Ryan it was great to meet up for lunch, your are such a genuine, strong man and Im honored to advocate for the autism community and our sons.
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 18:07:18 +0000