CVS Caremark All Kids Canâ„¢ grants help families with autism
by Beth
The Easter Seals 2008 Training Conference Awards Banquet was Monday night, and man, I’m still stuffed.
Still happy, too. Here’s why: In addition to the well-deserved awards Easter Seals gave out to individuals at the dinner Monday night, CVS Caremark Charitable Trust awarded $350,000 in grants to different Easter Seals autism programs across the country. This means the Trust has now donated a total of $1 million to support Easter Seals autism services nationwide.
The grants awarded Monday night are part of CVS Caremark’s signature program, CVS Caremark All Kids Canâ„¢, a five-year, $25 million commitment to support children with disabilities. The 2008 CVS Caremark All Kids Can Fund recipients include Easter Seals affiliates in Columbus, Dallas, South Florida, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Topeka and Westchester County. Children with autism — and their families — will benefit from feeding programs, specialized summer camps, weekend respite experiences, inclusive childcare, therapeutic and medical rehabilitation services and more.
Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of children and adults with autism we serve at Easter Seals. Although autism spectrum disorders are baffling and lifelong, they are treatable. If you read the comments to my blog about families with autism earning lower incomes, you’ll see that every family living with a person who has autism faces unique challenges. There is an urgent need for increased funding and services — that’s why it was so wonderful to be there Monday night to witness the generosity of CVS Caremark’s Charitable Trust.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:00 pm
I agree. My husband quit his job when our son was only 6 months old becuase he was always sick from day care. We moved to Hawaii when our son was only 9 months old. At 15 months we taveled back to our families homes. They all noticed something was odd. My sister, a nurse and nanny for a family with an autistic daughter, told me straight out he is Autistic. We went back to Hawaii made an appoitment with our Dr. and he stated it just takes boys a lot longer to catch on. Thank God we were smart and began doing our own research pushed for the State to do something and 3 months later he was in Early Intervention and has been in a structures enviroment ever since. We now live in Pleasanton, CA and he is in the LASS II Program. They are wonderful and have seen great results. My husband still stays home. My son has been kicked out of several day camps due to behavior problems in Hawaii. His school often called us to pick him up, suspended him for his behavior and simply told us he was too hard to deal with. We moved to CA because of the schools and they are a God sent. They love having him in class. My husband has an MBA and would probally make more money than I would working but he had more tolorance for our son at the time and I am a great relief for him when I get home from work. I works great. My son is 5 now and it is amazing what he has achieved fromhis firs word he spoke at almost 3. Hang in there.