Sarah Elsby graduated from Bloomfield High School and went on to get her Master’s from Columbia University. She is now a special education teacher in Ridgewood, NJ. She’s also Kristen Kemp’s occasional babysitter–Kristen scored a good one!
In honor of Autism Awareness Month, Autism Speaks is organizing walks throughout the country. Autism Speaks is an organization whose goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders, through funding of research, raising public awareness and bringing hope to all who deal with the hardships of the disorder.
Sarah has six students with autism, ages 9-13, and six aides. Her class is gearing up for the annual walk on May 23 at Bergen Community College in Paramus. They are currently raising money and Sarah is asking for help:
In order to help raise money for our walk and our program, we, in my class, are asking for our friends and family’s help. I know that the economy is rough right now and that donations are tough, so we decided to sell t-shirts, in lieu of asking for donations. (Of course, we’ll still take them though!) We were lucky enough to get the shirts at cost so almost 100% of the profit is going to our fundraising! The emblem on the top is the design for the shirt that will go in the upper left corner of long sleeve white shirt. My extremely talented sister designed the shirts. The shirts are $20 each. We also have t-shirts available for $15 and Youth sizes at $12 each.
If you want to join us and walk, we would love to have you!
Interested in purchasing a t-shirt, donating to the cause or joining the walk? Email Sarah here or call (973) 809-8052.
New Jersey has a high rate of autism. The national average is one in 110 children are diagnosed with autism, compared to the state’s one in 94. Caldwell College’s autism program was just awarded $1M in federal funding to build a center to serve children with autism and their families. Read the full story at NJ.com.