Teach Autistic Children Today

Exciting News Flash!
FUNDING TO BEGIN FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
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Teach Autistic Children Today (TACT), a Maryland non-profit dedicated to combating autism by helping families pay for much needed therapeutic services for their child with autism. Please look through our site and contact us if you need more information. Also, if you are interested in helping us in the battle, please let us know by joining our mailing list or volunteering to help!

Welcome Visitors to Our Website!

Teach Autistic Children Today, Inc. aka TACT is a non-profit organization formed in 2007 helping families pay for much needed educational therapeutic services for children with Autism. Today many people have heard of autism and may know a little about it, but what they probably don't know is that it is highly treatable.

Many children recover almost entirely and most will substantially improve with treatment. However, those treatment services normally run families around $100 per hour or more and include such things as speech, occupational and social interaction therapies for many hours a week. If received early enough, therapy can make the difference between having the chance at an independent future and spending your adult life being cared for by your parents.

Unfortunately, insurance frequently denies coverage for these services and government help is overburdened. Over 2,000 children in Maryland are currently waiting for funds to help pay for treatment.

But the future is not hopeless. Our logo has a butterfly on it because we believe children with Autism are much like a butterfly waiting to break free of their cocoons. With the help of a caring community, we can all give them wings to fly.

Please consider a donation or even, if possible, regular donations to Teach Autistic Children Today. Your gift will help our all-volunteer organization pay for funding to children that will change their lives forever and help us meet our limited operating costs.

Thank you in advance for your generosity, but most of all for giving the gift of hope and a future.

For the Children,

Chris Patterson
Board President/Founder

WHAT’S NEWS - November 3, 2008!

Fundraising Update
Many thanks to those who helped with our Charity Auction fundraiser on Aug. 1, 2008. We raised just under $4,500 thanks to the hard work of our auction committee led by Board VP Monica Kirkpatrick! We hope to do it again next year so keep your eyes open for updates early next year about that event.
Next on the agenda for fundraising events is a Basket Bingo planned for February (more details to follow) and our annual Give Them Wings walk in April. As soon as we have dates and times finalized, we will let you know.

Making a Difference
It was Gandhi who once said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world," and that is what we are trying to do at Teach Autistic Children Today/TACT. The board of directors recently voted to begin funding by the end of this year, and we are working hard to be ready to fund services for a few children. How many and how much depends on your generosity. If you are able to make a donation before the end of the year to help these precious kids, we ask you to do so. Times are hard, and nowhere is this felt more than by the parents who are watching their little ones slip further and further away from them. If there is anything you can do, we ask you to do it.
We also encourage you to support maintaining and perhaps expanding the funds allocated to the Maryland Autism Waiver so that the children already receiving help do not lose it, and perhaps more of the 2,000+ children waiting will get help.
From all of us at Teach Autistic Children Today/TACT we wish you a beautiful Fall and Holiday Season!

Give Them Wings 2008 raised $25,000!

On April 19, TACT held its first fundraising walk and it was not only fun but a great success. With around 500 registered walkers and tons of fun for the kids and information for the families, we are just busting at the seams with joy! The Give Them Wings 2008 walk raised over $25,000 in gross receipts (of course we have expenses to deduct!) but we are very grateful to so many people, businesses and organizations that we just have to list some of them for you! And when you see businesses listed below, we really hope you will make an effort to patronize these businesses and thank them for their support. We could not have had such a fantastic and fun walk if it were not for their amazing generosity!

• Miss Frederick 2007 and current board member Jeanna Riscigno had the idea for a walk as part of her platform, Autism Awareness. Jeanna presented her idea to TACT in mid-2007 as we were just forming this organization and then laid all the ground work for the walk. Thank you, Jeanna!

• The Rest of Our Fabulous Walk Committee who worked like crazy to make it fun: Jennie Bobbitt, Kathy Boyce, Diann Devart, Laura Dieterich, Beth Johnson, Jennifer Needle, Monica Riscigno, Chris Patterson and Frank Patterson

• Our Monarch Butterfly level sponsors: Sir Speedy Printing, Autism Society of America, Frederick County Chapter, and Crossroads Valley Chapel of Frederick.

• Our Teams and Team leaders who raised so much that we couldn’t believe it! We particularly want to congratulate the two teams and team leaders who raised the most money: Alyssa Fowler of Team: Allysa’s Ravens and Kelly Connolly of Team: 4 Eric! These two teams combined have raised nearly $6,000 and they keep sending us checks!

• And our other very generous corporate and media sponsors: the Sertoma Club of Frederick, the Fredericktowne Sertoma Club, 24/7 Dance Company, The Gazette, The Dispatch Community Newspapers, WFRE, Debbie Williams and the Patty Pollatos Fund, David Spence of Spence Photographics (check out his web site with pictures of the walk you can buy! at www.SpencePhotographics.com), Bright Sign Company for our beautiful banners, R.S. Kinnaird Memorials for our fabulous signs, Frederick County Bank, MY GYM, Papa Johns Pizza of Frederick, Common Market, MOMs Organic Market, Applegate Farms, Home Depot, Boscovs, James Gang Pizza and many other businesses that donated items for our raffle baskets and door prizes!

• The many businesses and local therapeutic service providers who set up activity tables for the kids and information tables for the families! Wow, were they great or what??!!!

• Our Amazing Volunteers who came Very Early and stayed Late to help get everything set up and cleaned up. When we left the field you couldn’t tell anyone had been there!

• The walkers, families, teachers, teaching aids, therapists and all of you who came out for Frederick’s first-ever walk to defeat autism!

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!!!




New Office Phone Numbers
Please note that TACT now has phone numbers dedicated solely to the organization. Because we are an all-volunteer organization, our previous phone number was and is the private number of one of our board members. The new numbers are also cell phones dedicated solely to the organization and will be managed by at least two members, so you can call them when you need information or help with anything. Please update your records!

Frederick: 240-405-9161
Smithsburg: 240-818-4613

If you have any questions about Teach Autistic Children Today, please don’t hesitate to contact us at tact2007@comcast.net.

Teach Autistic Children Today
PO Box 487
Braddock Heights, MD 21714-0487

By phone:
Frederick: 240-405-9161
Smithsburg: 240-818-4613

By email:
Tact2007@comcast.net