ISO Volunteers!

It is April and it happens to be Autism Awareness Month.  You’re probably thinking, “oh no not another article about Autism,” well it’s not all about autism; it’s about something else.  Something so easy to simply let other people do and for you to ignore and go about your business. It’s about the fact that every time I try to find new volunteers for either of the organizations I volunteer for, I get the “I’m just too busy already,” excuse. I am finding it more and more difficult to find people who are interested in doing good just because and I am hoping that Patch readers will prove me wrong. The trend I've been noticing is with things like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram that society has seemed to reach an all time narcissistic, self absorbed high, especially in our youth who can’t even look up from their iPhones to cross the street. And we wonder why society is going in this "it's all about me" direction with the whole helicopter-attachment-never-let-your-kid-fail parenting thing going on but I’ll save that for another blog.  So what’s my point? I am using Patch and their access to thousands of readers to try and find volunteers because I’ve maxed out on asking friends and this organization needs more volunteers.

So here is the deal, I am the new President for The Peninsula Children’s Auxiliary(PCA), a nonprofit that raises money for a special needs school in Palo Alto and San Jose through our major event called the Festival of Trees.  AchieveKids our cause, treats children and young adults with different kinds of complex and often severe developmental, emotional, and behavioral challenges including but not limited to just autism. In the 1950’s and 60’s these children would have been institutionalized and nobody talked about it.  It was taboo to risk the family’s image to discuss such things, but I believe these days society is on the right path to tolerance, acceptance and understanding of special needs people. This is especially true when you hear the staggering statistics that 1 in 50 children are now being diagnosed with some kind of autism spectrum disorder.  There has been a 78% rise in diagnosis along with the fact that the ratio of boys to girls getting diagnosed is 5:1!  1 in 50 means you probably know somebody that has a child with Autism, especially in this area because there are much higher rates of occurrence here in the Silicon Valley.

I have been around this organization since the mid 90’s because since the early 90’s my Mom joined and then eventually went on to become one of the Festival Chairs and President, Treasurer, and every other position offered, and I got volunteered to help at the events every year.  I remember my Mom telling me the statistics about autism in the Silicon Valley, I was probably 16 and I blew it off.  I was in high school and I didn’t see why it would be important to me, not yet at least. Now I am a mother of a healthy 15 month old daughter and I count my blessings that so far my baby seems to be “OK.”  I know that there are many other Moms out there right now just finding out their child has an emotional disability, or parents that are quietly sitting at home with their autistic child wondering what the future holds for them.   What kind of life can their child lead?  Should we even try to have another child if it could be genetic?  If we don’t have a sibling who will take care of him/her when we are gone? How can we afford specialized care? These are NOT easy discussions or topics but there are great schools and specialty centers out there like AchieveKids that pick up where the public education system cannot meet their needs.

At a school like AchieveKids students get one on one specialized care, respect, understanding and patience. They learn how to handle their emotional issues and build life skills so they will be able to one day live in a group home and some even are able to hold down jobs. But schools like this are expensive and that is why the PCA, works so hard to raise as much money as we can to donate to this school.  The children at this school do not all come from families of means in the least, so there is a real need for financial assistance to keep the program afloat.

While the PCA has been around now for 46 years and been throwing the Festival of Trees fundraiser for 30 years, the major challenge we face is that our aging membership is growing smaller and smaller.  Even founding member’s grandchildren and nieces etc are already over extended or “will come to the events but cannot at this time volunteer any extra time.” That is one of the responses I got. So with all the tasks associated with a nonprofit and our big event I am on the hunt for technologically savvy volunteers who want to help out.

If you have an interest for the cause, an interest in event planning, an interest in finding silent auction items, an interest in database management, online marketing, creating our invitations, designing decorations, an interest in helping find stores to sponsor our fashion show, or an interest in perhaps building your resume with nonprofit work then please come forward.  Take a look at our website www.festivaloftrees-paloalto.org and JOIN US! You have no idea how appreciative we will be.

The Peninsula Children’s Auxiliary will be meeting at Chef Chu’s in Los Altos Thursday April 18th at noon, any prospective members are more than welcome to come to the meeting and get an idea of where we are in our Festival of Trees planning.  If you would like to join us please email me. And thank you for reading this to the end!