A Great Day!

April 2nd was World Autism Awareness & Acceptance Day, and to celebrate, our family joined others in our local community for an Inaugural Autism Awareness Walk & Picnic.

It was a blast!

Our local community has a very large polo field which was the perfect setting for the event. Friends of ours from church, Bryn and Lindsey Blaise, spearheaded the event and recently established the Tri-County Autism Community as a non-profit organization for the area. This is REALLY exciting and a HUGE step forward for our area which has lacked organized autism awareness events until now.

I’m excited to see how God uses the event to connect families in the area who are navigating the joys and challenges that autism brings.

The event began with the choice of a 1-mile or 5K walk around the polo field. My kids decided to walk about a 0.5K so they could head back to the field to jump on the giant inflatable playgrounds (no shock there!). Where were these giant inflatable things when I was a kid? Little soccer nets, Cornhole, Croquet, and a giant sized beach ball were available for entertainment as well. Tons of pizza, snacks, and what I can only describe as the best mini cakes I’ve ever had, were provide for lunch. Connecting over great food is always great fun!

Over 100 people attended the inaugural event making it a HUGE success.

And it wasn’t just families with kids with autism who attended. Many people in the community from local churches, schools, and businesses also came out to the walk to support friends and relatives.

It was an exciting day, and I am encouraged about what God is doing in our community!

Here are some photos from the event! Photos with (**) taken by Jeff Roach Photography.