The WAHumorous World Of DanReinhold.com

The Wonderful WAHumor Giveaway for Autism Research is celebrating its second year, and it owes its very existence to one person. But not who you might think…

Once upon a time…well, actually, eight years ago to be more or less exact, it happened.

My youngest son Nicholas was just three years old and recently confirmed as autistic. This came well after our first warning when he was nine months old, so knowing for sure was both a relief and a worry.

I was sitting watching TV with my oldest son Christopher, then eight. He had his own issues in life, as we were learning to deal with his ADD and specific learning disabilities. Fighting that \”lazy unmotivated\” crap was better knowing words and brain wiring were his enemies, but not much easier at the time.

Anyway, a commercial (or is that a public service announcement?) came on about the National Alliance for Autism Research, since joined with and become Autism Speaks. It was about the upcoming regional “Walk Far For NAAR” fundraising event and explained that pledges were collected beforehand by teams of peoplepersonally connected somehow to someone with autism, and all those people came together to walk as a way to show their support.

Just as it ended, he turned to me and said, “I want to do that to help Nick”.

Not “Gee, that’d be nice to do” or “Maybe we could do that”.

My eight year old son said exactly those words and filled his dear ol’ dad chock full of pride.

We…oops, I mean HE enlisted the family in the effort and together we trudged the neighborhood, often with his brother’s picture in hand, to ask for pledges.

We did it every year as an extended family, except when serious illness, incapacity or other crises afflicted our little band. Door-to-door efforts started to dwindle when many other worthy causes decided to host the same sort of events during the fall. Our pot of donations dwindled accordingly.

Christopher was feeling more discouraged and frustrated by the results of his efforts. Family members withdrew for different reasons, including that Nick was “doing OK” in their opinion while friends, neighbors and co-workers were getting “the pinch” from everywhere and everyone.

Something had to change, so we changed it. The Wonderful WAHumor Giveaway for Autism Research was born.

I contacted people that should have intimidated the dickens out of me. Harvey Segal. Jeremy Palmer. Perry Marshall of Definitive Guide To Google Adwords gave the famous DGTGA that first year, and Paul Smithson of XSitePro offered a copy of his best-selling website builder.

You can see the list as it looks right now (so far!) here:

http://www.wahumorway.com/wahumor/WWGARannouncement.html

It’s not pretty, but now you know why I’m no famous site designer.
Now that our second year is a reality, plans are in the works for continuing and improving as the third year begins now. The overwhelming response of contributors has definitely convinced me it’s worth keeping on, and I sincerely hope that donors will respond well too when we go live at 5 a.m. this Sunday, October 5.

Nicholas has now started middle school, and while he’s struggling with the adjustment,  he’s coping well - better than my concerns! His “difference” isn’t stopping him and he’s well aware that even in his own community, there are others who struggle much more.

Guess that means I can’t quit either.

Dan >

P.S. The Wonderful WAHumor Giveaway for Autism Research will be live from 5 a.m. Eastern Sunday, October 5  until 5 a.m. Eastern Sunday, October 12. Hope to see you there!