We Could All Use A Reason To Smile!

This post is from December 2012. The Helping Hearts for Autism campaign has ended, and we are not collecting donations or nominations for it.

With all of the sadness surrounding us this holiday season it was a particularly special day today for us at Special-Learning, Inc. We finally got a hold of the last of five families to receive a 500 dollar grant from our Helping Hearts for Autism fundraising campaign and this one ended in tears, happy tears. Believe it or not the tears actually belonged to me, the bearer of good news! I was overwhelmed with emotion from the genuine sense of shock and relief that each family exuded. During, this particular call the mother had no clue that her daughter, who is away at college, nominated their family for a grant so needless to say she was absolutely shocked when she received my call. She said she is rarely made speechless and was unable to come up with the words she wanted to express herself. She said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," and repeated her gratitude throughout the conversation. She said, "I used to pray to God for patience, and then he gave me a child with autism.” She now has "Patience" tattooed on her wrist. She went back to college and is currently studying to be a behavioral consultant, and we just think that is awesome. All of the conversations were touching in their own right, but this one was truly special!