December 2022 Newsletter
2022: What A Year!
Let's take a look back on our accomplishments!
Reflecting On 2022
2022 was a remarkable year for Autism Evansville.
Our nonprofit organization gained a new Executive Director.
We welcomed Kelsey Schapker in May, as Schapker solely planned and successfully executed our Taking Steps for Autism Walk & 5K in April of this year, raising thousands of dollars for our organization, which in turn helped award vouchers to families, and allowed us to host Family Fun Events, Support Groups, and a Dad's Group.
We held two events at SkyZone, as well as events at Walther's Golf & Fun, High Score Player Two and cMoe.

Sensory Friendly Movie Day in August, Night Out for Special Needs in October and Sensory Friendly Santa in December were also three new, successful events we hosted this year!

Thanks to VisualRush Website & Design, they re-designed our website to make it easier to navigate. We encourage you to check it out - autismevansville.org - along with our Facebook page, Autism Evansville, to stay up-to-date on events & announcements.

Now available: sensory kits for families! To order, go to our website, click on Resources, then click Order Sensory Kits.

One of Schapker's goals for Autism Evansville was to create community partnerships in order to bring awareness and acceptance in the tri-state to the hundreds of families who are raising a child on the spectrum.
We announced community partnerships with:
*Evansville Museum where we developed a social story for families.
*Evansville Regional Airport where we helped announce three new accessibility programs for travelers experiencing any type of disability - the Sunflower Program, sensory equipment tools known as CAMSE Kits, and Therapy Dogs.
Autism Evansville will also be sitting on the airport's new Accessibility Advisory Committee.

Another substantial goal was to begin autism training with first responders/organizations of all types. This is something Schapker was teaching before joining our organization, and her training aligned with our values.
We are proud to share we more than reached that goal by training 250 firefighters with Evansville Fire Department, as well as employees with Evansville Regional Airport, Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office, McCutchanville Fire Department, and Ivy Tech.
We have organizations already on the 2023 calendar to undergo autism training.

We have multiple, exciting announcements in the works behind the scenes for 2023, and we are looking forward to an incredible year supporting you and your family!
Autism Evansville | [E-mail] | [Website]