Celebrating Jeff's Decade of Service to GFI!

Good Friend magic happens only because we have a team of people who believe in our vision of Autism Understanding through Respectful Education. Part of that team includes our volunteer Board of Directors.

Jeff Schill, who once attended college with GFI co-founder Chelsea Budde, uses his professional superpowers at Crisis Prevention Institute. His position at CPI allowed him to reconnect with Chelsea back in 2009 at a national autism conference. Without hesitation, he agreed to lend his expertise to our mission through service on our Board.

Please join us in extending appreciation for the many hours Jeff has dedicated to GFI over the last decade!

Milestones are fun, but people matter!

In this era of measurable outcomes, numbers are important.  How many were served?  What percentage of various ethnic groups were represented?  How much did it cost?  How long did it take?  And all of those things are important -- but not without people.  And not without each individual.

At Good Friend, Inc., we never started with a measuring stick.  We started with an idea that was born from the needs of people; more personally, two young boys with autism spectrum disorder.  Before Good Friend's Awareness. Acceptance. Empathy. motto was penned, we as mothers were doing our best to help our sons' peers to understand who they were and why they mattered.  When we did that, we broke down barriers to forming relationships.  Seeing those results, and hearing other parents' heartbreaks, made it worthwhile to pursue wider success.

From some of us (back: Pam Lara, Sarah Zubarik;
front: Ken Genin, Denise Schamens at our board meeting
earlier this month) to all of you!

So while we're excited to tell you about some milestones, please remember that YOU matter.  And your student matters.  And that's why we do any of this at all.

• Good Friend just celebrated its 7th "birthday"!
• We ALL Fit was accepted into its first film festival!
• We're officially going international! (The film festival is in Canada.)
• Our music video by The Figureheads has passed 18K views!
• We're moving into our first brick-and-mortar office next month! (Stay tuned for details about our "Grand Opening".)

Thank you for the role you played in helping us achieve these milestones.  Without your support, we could not have taken our message to more than 25K people ... and who knows how many more with the DVDs we've sold!?!

And let me bring this full-circle.  Today is my birthday, and last night, my 15-year-old son brought me flowers -- his own idea.  And while I might open his gift to me and it may be a picture of one of his special interests that he can't wait to share (because it brings him joy, therefore it must me also), those flowers are a milestone: He thought of something I like that holds no interest for him whatsoever.

May your milestones be celebrated today and always.

#GivingTuesday 2013

I hope your weekend has been as delightful as mine has been!  I've heard stories (mostly good ones) about Thanksgiving Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and now Cyber Monday.  We want to hear YOUR story about Giving Tuesday!

Good Friend has taken its involvement in the #GivingTuesday movement up a notch for 2013.  We're now a partner in the 92Y Initiative to change the focus of this holiday shopping season from one of accumulating stuff to being charitable.  What do you give?  Time?  Talent?  Cash?  And why do you give it?  Why should others care about your cause?

Already this school year, Denise and I have presented our organization's message of autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy directly to more than 2,000 students.  We know we can reach another 3,000 before the summer break with the support of engaged, caring community members.  How can you help us today and/or tomorrow?

• By spreading the word about what we do, why it's important, and how schools can use our products and services to create cultures of acceptance.  
• By donating online at www.goodfriendinc.com.  Click on the Donate button.  (You don't need a PayPal account!)
• By sharing your #UNselfie using this image.

 Just print it, write the reason you support us in the blank, take your photo, and post it with the hashtags (including #GoodFriendInc) on your favorite social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.).

Here are the top five reasons why Denise and I give:

• kids with autism should be understood, not bullied.
• doing inclusion right means educating peers.
• every student in school, regardless of ability, deserves at least one good friend.
• playdates are rare and precious for our kids with ASD.
• birthday party invitations RULE.

The goal for our annual giving campaign will be met if we raise another $2,100.  We would greatly appreciate your support in helping us meet that goal!  Here's to #GivingTuesday!

Bullying Prevention Month

A couple of my Facebook friends have sent me the same meme, which says something along the lines of, "I don't think the worst thing in the world is raising a child with autism, but raising a child who is cruel to someone with autism."

Bullying is not a problem of childhood.  It's not a developmental phase.  It's not a cry for help.  It's "a profound public health problem"; an unhealthy social practice that's been allowed to exist and morph in so many environments that it's become pervasive.  And as a society, we have too many people standing BY and not enough people standing UP when they see these power imbalances.

The disgust with the lack of engagement has reached a tipping point in the last five years.  As a result, new bullying prevention and awareness programs and initiatives are popping up all over the place.  Good Friend, Inc., has been differentiating between disability harassment and bullying since 2007.  But in the absence of a Disability Harassment Prevention Month, we'll piggyback on the Bullying Prevention Month efforts.

On Wednesday, Sept. 26, which happened to be Bullying Awareness Day in Wisconsin, BULLY put out a great "Battle of the Bullied" infographic which put some statistics behind the need for grassroots bullying prevention campaigns.

Stomp Out Bullying™ has initiated Blue Shirt Day™ as a World Day of Bullying Prevention.  So if you're not wearing blue today, you've missed that opportunity.  But don't fret -- you can (and should) still wear orange on Unity Day, Wednesday, Oct. 10.  And you can do something on an even grander scale during this month, which is National Bullying Prevention Month.

Some people might be feeling inundated with requests to draw attention to bullying and prevent this epidemic.  If you're one of them, please let me know which day we can stop thinking about the social emotional health of our children.  Let me know when we should stop offering practical tools to bystanders so they can intervene in a bullying situation.  Tell me when our children's safety and relational aggression are no longer concerns.

For the rest of you who will heed the calls of these wonderful organizations and join in demonstrations of support, be sure you post pictures of your blue or orange shirts on our Facebook page, or tweet them with hashtag #GoodFriendInc.