'Enthusiasm Became Contagious'
Editor's note: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author exclusively.
Amy Capobianco-Diaz, team captain of "Matthew's Miracles", spoke at a Westchester/Fairfield Walk Planning Committee Meeting on March 7, 2006.
My name is Amy Capobianco-Diaz, team captain of team “Matthew's Miracles”. Welcome to the new teams and welcome back to the not-so-new ones. I've been asked to speak as a new team captain. Let me tell you my story.
When my son, Matthew was diagnosed on the spectrum in 2004, I was completely devastated, a feeling that we've all shared at one time or another. I have to admit, I knew very little of autism. I only knew of one other child who was diagnosed. I had no idea how that number would change for me. I spent a good portion of that year in a fog.
At the end of the year, when the fog started to lift, the feeling of devastation was replaced with anger and frustration. Anger because too many children were being diagnosed and frustration because there was no cure.
I remembered seeing a “Walk Far for NAAR” poster the previous year and decided I'd check out what NAAR was.
I was always the shy type. Not the go-getter, business-type. When I went on the NAAR web site and saw all the teams, I was pretty intimidated. I saw the amounts being raised by teams like Scarsdale Child and Team Ardsley and thought, “Who am I?” I have no great contacts to raise that kind of money”. I started to second-guess myself. I also started to read the stories written by either team captains or team members. Then something happened. I read a story of team “Loving Levi”. It was from the perspective of Levi's sister. She was asking people to walk with Levi, her and her family for Levi. The thing was that she was asking for us to celebrate their birthdays on the day of the walk. I cried the remainder of that night. How unfair is it for a child to spend a birthday walking to find a cure for himself or for a little girl to ask such a selfless, mature question? This was just the push I needed to make a difference. It didn't matter if I couldn't raise thousands, but it did matter that I played a part in something so important.
I signed up my husband, my 2 boys and myself and set my goal at $500 and hoped I could reach it. I typed out Matthew's story through tears and exposed every painful moment about Matthew's decline since he had turned 19 months, the endless therapies and our devastation, and pinned it to the bulletin boards in the two buildings of the co-op that we live in. I had never done anything so bold that it frightened me.
The response was overwhelming. Most people were not aware of Matthew's diagnosis and the majority had no idea what autism was. We had been living there for 4 years, but knew only a small circle of people. Now, everyone knew us. Not only did they donate, but they wanted to know all about autism. I was making a difference. People started to volunteer to walk—neighbors, family and friends. The team grew larger as my enthusiasm became contagious. I took the advice of the website and made t-shirts. We were officially a team! We started to brainstorm on ideas of how to raise more money. One team member, a man whom I said, “hello” to in passing prior to this, turned out to be a contractor for the businesses in my town. A store had gone out of business so he put Matthew's story in the window. More donations came. The great and lucky thing was that a reporter from The Westchester Journal News happened to walk by and saw the story and the information about the walk. The next thing we knew, he and a camera man were sitting in my living room, interviewing us about Matthew, autism, NAAR and the walk. Our article brought in more unexpected donations.
At this point, I started to come out of my shell. I figured, “if the Girl Scouts could sit and sell cookies in front of the local supermarket, I could ask for donations”. Team members brought the donation sheets to work. We all asked family and friends for their support. My mother even got her church in Massachusetts to hand out 600 copies of Matthew's story one weekend. Team members were asking everyone from their dry cleaners to the man who sells them the morning paper. We were all making a difference!
By the time the walk came around, I was so pumped up. Then I pulled up to Manhattanville College. I was so overwhelmed and intimidated by the amount of people. Everyone was hugging each other, laughing and having a great time, and I realized that, I didn't know anyone! So many people seemed to know each other. I felt like a complete stranger.
But autism and the teams that day had something in common. They say autism consists of all different kinds of people, regardless of ethnicity, color or socio-economic background. And that is what I found at the walk. Everyone there was different, yet we all had something in common. Everyone was walking for a cure for autism. Everyone fit in, even shy little me.
I walked in as a stranger, but I left not only having made new friends, but family. We were and are all in it together.
By the time it was all said and done, our team of 4 turned into 35, and our goal of $500 turned into $8500. Whether you are walking for your own loved one or someone else's, you can make a difference.
In closing, if I could offer 5 tips that made our team successful, they would be these:
1. Don't be afraid. Tell your story. People will listen.
*Let them know what you are walking for and why. Educate them about autism, and Autism Speaks. It's an exciting year for us with the merger of NAAR and Autism Speaks. There is so much to talk about.
2. Ask people to walk with you. Ask family, friends and even the therapists.
*These people love your loved ones and dedicate their time to teaching them things that will get them through life. Our therapists felt more appreciated that we included them in something that went beyond the day-to-day therapies.
3. Motivate your team—they're there for you and the ones you walk for.
*T-shirts are great.
*This year, we are trying to plan a pizza party for the team before the walk.
4. Use your contacts, even if you think you don't have any. You'd be surprised who you know or what you can do.
* This could include getting permission to sit in front of a store and asking for donations.
*My complex is planning on having a tag sale this spring. I plan on selling the refreshments and having the proceeds go towards the walk.
5. Have fun!
We all spend so much time working hard with our loved ones. It's time we had fun doing it.
And remember, most importantly, anything is possible!
Thank you!
Amy Capobianco-Diaz, team captain of "Matthew's Miracles", spoke at a Westchester/Fairfield Walk Planning Committee Meeting on March 7, 2006.
My name is Amy Capobianco-Diaz, team captain of team “Matthew's Miracles”. Welcome to the new teams and welcome back to the not-so-new ones. I've been asked to speak as a new team captain. Let me tell you my story.
When my son, Matthew was diagnosed on the spectrum in 2004, I was completely devastated, a feeling that we've all shared at one time or another. I have to admit, I knew very little of autism. I only knew of one other child who was diagnosed. I had no idea how that number would change for me. I spent a good portion of that year in a fog.
At the end of the year, when the fog started to lift, the feeling of devastation was replaced with anger and frustration. Anger because too many children were being diagnosed and frustration because there was no cure.
I remembered seeing a “Walk Far for NAAR” poster the previous year and decided I'd check out what NAAR was.
I was always the shy type. Not the go-getter, business-type. When I went on the NAAR web site and saw all the teams, I was pretty intimidated. I saw the amounts being raised by teams like Scarsdale Child and Team Ardsley and thought, “Who am I?” I have no great contacts to raise that kind of money”. I started to second-guess myself. I also started to read the stories written by either team captains or team members. Then something happened. I read a story of team “Loving Levi”. It was from the perspective of Levi's sister. She was asking people to walk with Levi, her and her family for Levi. The thing was that she was asking for us to celebrate their birthdays on the day of the walk. I cried the remainder of that night. How unfair is it for a child to spend a birthday walking to find a cure for himself or for a little girl to ask such a selfless, mature question? This was just the push I needed to make a difference. It didn't matter if I couldn't raise thousands, but it did matter that I played a part in something so important.
I signed up my husband, my 2 boys and myself and set my goal at $500 and hoped I could reach it. I typed out Matthew's story through tears and exposed every painful moment about Matthew's decline since he had turned 19 months, the endless therapies and our devastation, and pinned it to the bulletin boards in the two buildings of the co-op that we live in. I had never done anything so bold that it frightened me.
The response was overwhelming. Most people were not aware of Matthew's diagnosis and the majority had no idea what autism was. We had been living there for 4 years, but knew only a small circle of people. Now, everyone knew us. Not only did they donate, but they wanted to know all about autism. I was making a difference. People started to volunteer to walk—neighbors, family and friends. The team grew larger as my enthusiasm became contagious. I took the advice of the website and made t-shirts. We were officially a team! We started to brainstorm on ideas of how to raise more money. One team member, a man whom I said, “hello” to in passing prior to this, turned out to be a contractor for the businesses in my town. A store had gone out of business so he put Matthew's story in the window. More donations came. The great and lucky thing was that a reporter from The Westchester Journal News happened to walk by and saw the story and the information about the walk. The next thing we knew, he and a camera man were sitting in my living room, interviewing us about Matthew, autism, NAAR and the walk. Our article brought in more unexpected donations.
At this point, I started to come out of my shell. I figured, “if the Girl Scouts could sit and sell cookies in front of the local supermarket, I could ask for donations”. Team members brought the donation sheets to work. We all asked family and friends for their support. My mother even got her church in Massachusetts to hand out 600 copies of Matthew's story one weekend. Team members were asking everyone from their dry cleaners to the man who sells them the morning paper. We were all making a difference!
By the time the walk came around, I was so pumped up. Then I pulled up to Manhattanville College. I was so overwhelmed and intimidated by the amount of people. Everyone was hugging each other, laughing and having a great time, and I realized that, I didn't know anyone! So many people seemed to know each other. I felt like a complete stranger.
But autism and the teams that day had something in common. They say autism consists of all different kinds of people, regardless of ethnicity, color or socio-economic background. And that is what I found at the walk. Everyone there was different, yet we all had something in common. Everyone was walking for a cure for autism. Everyone fit in, even shy little me.
I walked in as a stranger, but I left not only having made new friends, but family. We were and are all in it together.
By the time it was all said and done, our team of 4 turned into 35, and our goal of $500 turned into $8500. Whether you are walking for your own loved one or someone else's, you can make a difference.
In closing, if I could offer 5 tips that made our team successful, they would be these:
1. Don't be afraid. Tell your story. People will listen.
*Let them know what you are walking for and why. Educate them about autism, and Autism Speaks. It's an exciting year for us with the merger of NAAR and Autism Speaks. There is so much to talk about.
2. Ask people to walk with you. Ask family, friends and even the therapists.
*These people love your loved ones and dedicate their time to teaching them things that will get them through life. Our therapists felt more appreciated that we included them in something that went beyond the day-to-day therapies.
3. Motivate your team—they're there for you and the ones you walk for.
*T-shirts are great.
*This year, we are trying to plan a pizza party for the team before the walk.
4. Use your contacts, even if you think you don't have any. You'd be surprised who you know or what you can do.
* This could include getting permission to sit in front of a store and asking for donations.
*My complex is planning on having a tag sale this spring. I plan on selling the refreshments and having the proceeds go towards the walk.
5. Have fun!
We all spend so much time working hard with our loved ones. It's time we had fun doing it.
And remember, most importantly, anything is possible!
Thank you!
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