Well along with creating our Sensory Cooking Groups we have plenty of activities to come. In May we have tickets for Seussical Jr. a Desert Foothills Theater Production. We also have some spaces remaining for AZ on the Rocks. Both of these events will be on Saturday, May 11th, one in the morning and the other in the evening. We thought either might be a great way to be out and about to celebrate Mom, since Mother’s Day is that Sunday. We will probably plan something in June or July but so many people go away we don’t always have great turn out. In August, we will have a Mercury game and we are already working on MacDonald Ranch and The North Pole Events for November but we need to wait to see if we get tickets and that won’t happen until Fall. Hmmm…I wonder what else? Old favorites and new things to come. To register, go to our Events page.

Shop and Support Us

For those of you who know about Scrip, it a great way for us to make money as an organization and all you need to do is buy gift cards for face value. We then can get a percentage of each card sold and the options are amazing! Please check it out. It’s a great way to get teachers end of year gifts or graduation gifts (we were able to purchase Amazon, Target, Gas Cards and a huge variety of restaurants as we get ready to send Drew off to college). Some can be purchased on line others we would need to order and get to you but that is usually easy enough. I would love to place a big order in the next week or so. Use enrollment code of BLC9AA8D62L31 on the Shop with Script Enrollment Page.

Pampered Chef is the quality it has always been but they have added more fun products and as we create Small Cooking Social Groups, I thought people might want to choose some fun products to share with their families and friends. Kids with Autism Can is hosting a Fundraiser that will finish at the end of April. I know there were several people who wanted to purchase things in January but didn’t get around to it, so here is your chance. I love the products and find many work really well for cooking with kids! Their scrapers, glass storage bowls and some of their metal and silicon baking products are my favorites. Take a peek, you might not even know you want something until you see it!!

Well it’s been a while since our last newsletter. We have been busy with new ideas and working hard to add more events. Last November we had our biggest group ever at Mac Donald Ranch and we took lots of families to the North Pole by train and trolley!

January included a production of Willy Wonka, Jr. by Desert Foothills Youth Theater, a great game with the Arizona Coyotes and an inspiring Zumba fundraiser. February held a fun night at CrackerJax, although it was chilly at least we didn’t get rained on. We would also like to thank the Coyotes again for another 50/50 fundraising opportunity on February 28! March brought tickets to the AZ Rattlers, and April 1st we enjoyed a Suns game. Ten of the kids from our organization got floor seats to watch some practice before the actual game. April 12th was Autism Awareness Night with the D’Backs. We shared a few tickets to the game but mostly were shared information and support at the table we hosted before and during the game.

As you can see, we offer a variety of activities so we hope if one thing doesn’t work well for your family a different event might be a great opportunity to try something new. Thanks to all of the sports teams that help us provide these opportunities. Some donate tickets, others work hard to help us provide really special opportunities like ball exchanges and high 5 tunnels, these events are priceless for the families in our group. Sensory Cooking started holding Small Social Cooking Groups every week, usually 2-4 kids participate in a group and these social groups along with other opportunities will continue in Summer and Fall. I thought we would be slowing down with events but great opportunities just keep popping up and we hate to say no to anything that provides social experiences for our group.

Community Support

As you can imagine, running a not for profit for 10 years has its challenges as well as so many rewards. We will continue to grow, maybe not by leaps and bounds but with small manageable steps; being responsible with our funds and our very special families. We would love to increase the people listed on this page as a part of our network. Can you bring a special talent or skill?

A Note from John Kuss - As a primary care physician for Cigna Medical Group, I have had the opportunity to care for many patients with autism. As a physician one gets extensive medical training on how to approach autism from a scientific medical perspective. What we too often lack, however, is a good understanding of the social challenges faced by families with autism. Fortunately, there are organizations like Kids with Autism Can who are working hard to bridge this gap. As an all-volunteer organization that devotes its time and resources directly to the autism community, I believe Kids with Autism Can is a shining example of what a volunteer organization can accomplish. I look forward to doing all I can to support its future goals, and I hope I can share my experiences with others in the medical community to increase awareness of the support and opportunities available to families with autism.

The Gray, Lewis, Lindquist and Huether families that say “yes”, to virtually anything we ask of them. Along with our other families that support us in a variety of ways, including several personal fundraising efforts!

We thank SEEDs and Pal Experiences! There are many amazing groups in the area but these two each bring something quite special to the community. We hope will you will check out what they offer.