Six Weeks of Pure Awesome

March and April are hands down Good Friend, Inc.'s busiest months.  We're right in the thick of our two big annual fundraising events: the ongoing Highlight It Up Blue campaign, which this year involves four stylists and runs through April 23; and our Hoa Aloha Autism Awareness Bowling Event, coming up on this Sunday, April 13.

If you indicated you're "Attending" our Highlight It Up Blue Facebook event, you've seen some of the pictures.  We've doubled the number of schools participating in this year's campaign, and again have had to turn some away (sorry!) because so many communities are lining up to support autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy.  To date, here are the top five leaders and their gross receipts:

1. Rose Glen Elementary (Waukesha) - $985
2. Waukesha STEM Academy-Randall - $725
3. Park Lawn Elementary (Oconomowoc) - $600
4. Mukwonago High School - $520
5. Butler Middle School (Waukesha) - $470

Waukesha STEM Academy-Saratoga and Waukesha West High School also participated.  We'll be at Heyer Elementary (Waukesha), Edgerton Elementary (Hales Corners) and Waukesha South High School before it's all over.  THANK YOU for helping push us toward our goal of raising $7,000 to facilitate our staff and student trainings in elementary and middle schools!

How are you involved in this Sunday's BIG event at New Berlin Bowl?  We have some 200 bowlers registered on teams, plus more than a dozen volunteers and nearly 100 donors.  There are lots of opportunities for you to get in on the action!  Thursday is the last day to register or donate online.  If you show up on Sunday, we'll try to get you on a lane as they're available.  The morning (10:30 a.m.) start time should still have openings.  Even if you're not bowling, you won't be bored!  Check out some of our silent auction items:

two different "Beach Day" buckets, starting bid = $10

"Kids' Entertainment" basket, starting bid = $45

This is one of eight images in the framed 28" x 34" "Hearts" print, starting bid = $60

Green Bay Packers autographed football, starting bid = $100

pair of admission tickets, starting bid = $45

"Outdoor Fun" package, starting bid = $10

"Indoor Fun" package, starting bid = $20

And our raffle items include this stunning pair of diamond stud earrings from Diamond Nexus and a VIP game package for four from the Milwaukee Brewers!  Tickets are $5 for one or $20 for five.  Choose which prize container you want to put your tickets in.  Need not be present to win.  Drawing is at 3 p.m.

All of this goodness facilitates the good work of Good Friend: going in to schools, colleges, universities, and summer camps to lay the groundwork for positive, healthy social interactions between children with autism and their peers.  If you need more information on any of these RIGHT NOW opportunities, please contact chelsea@goodfriendinc.com, or call 414-510-0385.

Coconuts + Autism Awareness = Hoa Aloha

There's nothing like the thought of Hawaii to bring a smile to our frozen winter faces!  When we first started planning our bowling event more than five years ago, we chose a theme that has become the spirit of our most significant annual fundraiser.  Hoa Aloha means good friend, and that's what this family-friendly day is all about.  It's the spirit of ohana -- a family sense of working together without judgment, where no one is left behind or forgotten.

We bring in ramps for our younger bowlers or those without the upper body strength to get the ball to roll down the lane.  We can put the gutter guards up so knocking down pins is more likely.  We understand when the noise and the waiting becomes too much for our friends with autism and they run out of ways to cope.  We exchange compassionate glances instead of disapproving stares.  We raise our eyebrows with joy instead of furrowing them with scorn.  We support each other, understanding that while one in 88 of us has autism spectrum disorder, we're all in it together.

Awareness. Acceptance. Empathy.

If that sounds like the kind of mission you'd like to support, please get a team of four to six bowlers together and register to join us at New Berlin Bowl on Sunday, April 14, starting either at 10:30 a.m. or 1:00 p.m.   You'll have two hours and fifteen minutes to bowl two games.  For $110, your team members will get shoe rentals, unlimited soft drinks, plus the two games and a festive lei per person.  They'll be qualified to win great prizes in the following categories:

• Top Fundraiser - Individual: a Toshiba 50" LED L2200U HDTV 1080p 60Hz
• Top Fundraiser - Individual, Runner-Up: an Apple iPad mini
• Top Fundraiser - Team: TBA
• Highest Score: Miller-Coors products
• Best Costumes - Team: New Berlin Ale House Bowling Party for Ten People
• Best Costume - Child: TBA
• Most Gutter Balls: TBA
• Most Creative Use of a Coconut: the coveted coconut bowl from Pepper it Up pottery!

PLUS DOOR PRIZES!  Here's how you get a chance (or several) to get in on those ...

• Raise at least $10 in donor pledges.
• Wear a Good Friend shirt.
• Be a current member of Good Friend.
• Show up with blue in your 'do. (stay tuned for more on this year's HighLight It Up Blue campaign!)

Participants can also have their team photo taken by a professional photographer at no charge!  (Donations appreciated.)  Even if you don't want to come and bowl, you can pick up some raffle tickets for your chance to win a Brewers VIP Package for four, get some goodies (including fresh popcorn and gluten-free selections!) at the bake sale, or just grab lunch at the Ale House and cheer on your favorite bowlers.

We are grateful for those who support our staff and student trainings through this fundraising opportunity, and for all the volunteers who make it happen!  Watch for updates on our Facebook event page.

We need your support this Friday!

It's not so much that we as co-founders of Good Friend need you (though obviously, we do, and are so thankful for you!).  It's more that we need you to help us recognize some wonderful people.

• We need you to cheer on high school student and Master of Ceremonies Ellie Trewyn, who's the voice of Choosing To Be a GFF and is an aspiring broadcast professional.  
• We need you to congratulate Good Friend in Education Award winner Alexandra Krysiak, who, perhaps more because of than in spite of her own challenges, is a wise and powerful advocate for her elementary school classmates with autism. 
• We need you to put your hands up for Shelly Dretzka, Good Friend's Top Fundraiser for FY 2011/12, who rallied a dozen teams to participate in our 4th annual Hoa Aloha Autism Awareness Bowling Event and ultimately was responsible for bringing $2,862 in to support autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy.

And we want to have a blast while we're doing all that!  So we'll have a few black jack and roulette tables, just for fun, and at the raffle you could win some lovely home furnishings, including hand-tied fleece blankets!

And check out these fine silent auction items!

Handmade cuff bracelet and earrings donated by
Potawatomi Bingo Casino, valued at $200.

Handblown glass bowl donated by artist Craig Derby,
valued at $200.

Priceless handmade puzzle piece quilt donated by Cari Short.

Matted and framed limited edition Terry Doughty print,
"Phantoms of the Tamarack", donated by Jeannette &
Les Schamens and valued at $300.

Please say you'll come to Steinhafels in Waukesha, Wis., on Friday, Aug. 3, at 7 p.m.  Just let Denise know you're coming (262-391-1369).  We always welcome your online donation, too, in case you wish to give a gift in honor of Good Friend's 5th birthday without attending the festivities.  Thanks in advance!

A day late and a dollar short. (Who's counting?)

Indeed, today's blog post comes a day late.  And it just so happens that I'm coming with a bit of sad news: Despite the extraordinary efforts of a handful of our bowlers and a truckload of Good Friend, Inc., volunteers, the funds raised through our 4th annual Hoa Aloha Autism Awareness Bowling Event on Sunday fell a dollar short.  Well, more like $1,400.

But who's counting?

I'll tell you what I counted yesterday: More than 200 moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends, teachers and therapists -- all cheering and smiling and high-fiving.  I saw inclusion at its finest and counted zero people who wanted to participate being left out.  I counted the happy tears of a grateful mom as she counted the hundreds upon hundreds of dollars given to the cause in her son's honor.

My son counted and proudly reported to me his spares.  There were four.  His dad counted the two bumpers that went up to help him get those spares.  And there's nothing wrong with counting supports.

My hope is that the people with autism who bowled with us on Sunday can count everyone else in that bowling alley, and all the donors who gave, as someone who supports them.  May we count you in?  Our event page is still live and accepting donations, and any of our bowlers would be honored by your support. So would we.

Bowling with Autism

There are so many things I love about Good Friend, Inc., but our annual Hawaiian-themed bowling event is my favorite. It's so much more than a fundraiser: It's a time for families and friends to enjoy one another while supporting a good cause. A time for colleagues to see each others' silly sides. An opportunity to perhaps win a prize for your creativity with a coconut (for real - that's a prize category this year!). And that's just on event day.

When I take a moment to pause during the event, I see people bowling side-by-side with families they've never met, but whom they may have seen. And before that day, when the typically-developing community member saw that 9-year-old boy with autism having a meltdown in a department store, she might have thought to herself how ill-behaved he was. Or perhaps she cast a glance at the bewildered mother and wondered why she wasn't managing the situation more strong-handedly.

But at the Hoa Aloha Autism Awareness Bowling Event, they might understand a little bit better that bowling with autism can be hard.  There's all this noise that perturbs the auditory sensitivity, and a throng of unfamiliar people adds unpredictability.  There are turns to take and minutes to wait -- such difficult, sometimes abstract concepts for concrete thinkers with autism.  And that darn bake sale is ever-beckoning little ones back for more, regardless of their brain wiring.

So, sure, I can fill you with a bunch of statistics in preparation of National Autism Awareness Month (April):

• 1:110 children in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder. (But remember - this is a lifelong brain-based difference; not a condition of childhood.)
• Autism is at least three times as prevalent in boys than girls.
• More children will be diagnosed with autism this year than childhood cancer, juvenile diabetes, and pediatric AIDS combined.
• Children with autism are more likely that their typically-developing peers to be bullied in school.

But I don't know that offering head knowledge is the best way for you to understand how important it is for our organization to provide social support to communities including people with autism.  I hope you'll join us at New Berlin Bowl on April 22.  We've increased our goal for this year's event by 25%, so we need more teams, more companies, more donors than ever before to extend themselves in the pursuit of autism awareness, acceptance, and empathy.  For more information or to register your team, click here.