Making Connections

Yesterday we started promoting our latest fundraiser. Local kid's musician, Johnny Only, has offered to donate 75% of his on-line sales for the next 2 weeks to FPWR. This is so generous of him and a great opportunity to raise money for FPWR. To advertise, we printed our flyers and gave them out to the parents at Ellie's pre-school. Today one of her classmate's mom called me and was excited about the funsraiser and then wanted to know more about PWS. We then spent 45 minutes talking about our children and how her son has autism but she is not sure if there is maybe something more going on. After the call I realized that this fundraiser was not only a great way to raise money but also a great way to build awareness about PWS and connect with other families with children with special needs. Since Ellie's diagnosis I have not only been amazed at the connections I have made with other PWS families but also with other families with children who have all kinds of special needs.  We were a little nervous about putting out the flyers because now all of the parents would know that Ellie has PWS. We are not in any way ashamed of her diagnosis but it has been nice for us to go to birthday parties and Ellie could just be Ellie - not the kid with PWS. Now everyone knows and her and our ananimity is now gone. But with that comes awareness, understanding and deeper connections with the other parents.

I guess what better way to explain PWS than through a fundraiser :)

Have you ever organized a fundraiser? Did you find that your circle of friends grew as a result? How do you handle building awareness and fundraising without 'exploiting' your child's diagnosis?