Benefactors
Surfers Healing: Surfers Healing seeks to enrich the lives of children with autism and the lives of their families by exposing them to the unique experience of surfing. Surfers Healing volunteers travel across the coastal United States and Hawaii allowing autistic children an opportunity to experience the healing affects of the water at no charge.
Autism Speaks: At Autism Speaks, the goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders. Autism Speaks is dedicated to funding global biomedical research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and cure for autism; to raising public awareness about autism and its effects on individuals, families, and society; and to bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of this disorder. We are committed to raising the funds necessary to support these goals.
Autism Speaks aims to bring the autism community together as one strong voice to urge the government and private sector to listen to our concerns and take action to address this urgent global health crisis. It is our firm belief that, working together, we will find the missing pieces of the puzzle.
Autism Family Services of NJ (AFSNJ) has been hosting a great event called the Beach Bash. This event is FREE and is open to families living with a child with Autism in NJ. What began as a small event with about 150 people has grown and in 2007 we hosted over 1,400 attendees. The Beach Bash is an all day event that includes arts and crafts, a dj, interactive games, and lunch provided by Whole Foods Market. All families are welcome to join in on this portion of the Beach Bash. Due to the special needs of children with Autism many safety precautions are taken into account such as access to beach wheelchairs, designated areas for swimming, increased lifeguard watch, sea patrol and many volunteers to help out where needed. This enables families to concentrate on just having fun. As part of the Beach Bash, we also work with Surfers Healing, a California based non-profit organization, to provide NJ with a surf camp. At our 2007 event we had the most children surf, 184, in Surfers Healing history. This too is free to families.New Jersey’s Center for Outreach and Services for the Autism Community (COSAC): COSAC is a nonprofit agency providing information and advocacy, services, family and professional education and consultation. COSAC encourages responsible basic and applied research that may lessen the effects of, and potentially prevent autism. COSAC is dedicated to ensuring that all people with autism receive appropriate, effective services to maximize their growth potential and to enhance the general public's overall awareness of autism.
