“I’d like to do an event here in Florida.“ When you pour your heart and soul into a nonprofit like my family has, words like those above definitely bring tears to your eyes. Truly wonderful when other people want to become so involved in your passion project. We have run the Golf for Autism here in Cleveland for 20 years. And we’re excited now to have Florida south. Board member, Michael …
Looking Ahead to 2026 With One Simple Word: Balance
For many of us, 2025 has been a whirlwind of a year. As it comes to a close, my wish for all of you (and for my family and friends) is that we’re able to slow down a little and find time for the things we enjoy most. You may have read previously how much I love resolutions, and the new year brings the perfect opportunity for that. But recently, I was talking to a friend who told me about …
Giving Might Be More Important Than Ever
I didn’t do any official research, but I know just for myself, there are dozens of reasons why I might donate to something. Here are a few: While we of course appreciate donations to The Orange Effect Foundation we know there are so many organizations out there doing great things and in need of so much. Some who also make sure that kids have gifts at the …
Why I Was Sad About the Last Penny and Now I’m Not
200 years. That’s a long time to make something. In that 200 years, the penny has adapted. It has different “ingredients” now than before, and even a different design. A penny however, is still a penny. There are 300 billion pennies in circulation. Holey moley that seems like a lot. What else has changed though? Well, for one thing, the penny costs more to make than it is worth. …
I Am SO Thankful
I’ve written before about the importance of time. And how many people in my life are looking for time. Either time to get things done, or time with people they love, or time to travel. As we enter the season of being thankful, I thought I would focus on people who have shared their time with me. I am one lucky and thankful person. 1. Years ago, my friend Cathy sent me a note during the month …
How Do You Know?
I was having a conversation with a friend who saw what looked like a movie poster on Facebook for the movie Elf 2. Now this person was a huge fan of the first Elf movie, so of course, was excited that there may be a second. But then they awkwardly admitted that they have no idea if it’s true or not because it’s so easy to generate fake news and fake images these days. As they said that, they let …
Why Never Giving Up Matters
We just finished our third-quarter board meeting. If you’re unfamiliar with our process, we accept applications and meet on a quarterly basis. Prior to each meeting, our review team spends countless hours determining how to fund the requests we’ve received. They then present their recommendations to the full board for approval. This quarter, for example, we received 61 applications totaling …
The Power Of A Book
I love books. You’ll rarely see me without one. Books can do so many things. They can educate you, or take you to far away places, both real and imagined. They can help you open your heart, and they can rip your heart open. They can help you bond with other people who read the same book. They can help create great discussions for those same people who read books and maybe saw things differently …
What Should We Do For Our 20th Year?
I’ve always loved running events. From kids’ birthday parties to friends’ surprise parties. I enveloped it even more when we started our own company and had work-related events. I often describe to people that planning those big events was sort of like Christmas. It was so exciting when the day finally arrived. I always enjoyed seeing all the hard work come together and all the people finally …
What Has Changed In The Last 19 Years?
With our 19th Golf for Autism coming up, one of my jobs is to create the signs that we place in the tee boxes around the course so golfers know who is sponsoring the event. Over the years we have tried to make the signs informative with statistics about Autism and communication disorders. Around then, about 2005, one of the first signs we made said that approximately 1 in every 160 …
Autism Becomes Magical
I truly believe that there is too much content out there. I myself can easily get caught up in what I learned is called ‘doomscrolling’ where you just keep swiping as all kinds of information goes on the screen and you don’t even realize how much time has passed. Years ago this bothered me so much that our family instituted electronic free Saturdays. But I digress…. Every once in …
When Multiple Siblings Need Services
If you’re not familiar with our process here at The Orange Effect Foundation, we review applications four times a year. A deadline falls on the first of the month. For example, this quarter it’s August 1, and during the next 30 days, our Program Manager and Application Review Committee work vigorously to allocate the $25,000 that’s available for grants for that quarter. Since we began doing …
