Earlier this month, NFAR held a Celebration Dinner to thank the sponsors, major fundraisers, and top team leaders of the 2009 San Diego Race for Autism.
NFAR founders Juan and Sharon Leon, NFAR Board members, along with mistress of ceremonies for the Race for Autism, TV Station Fox 5's Perette Godwin welcomed top fundraisers and team leaders. The evening was in celebration of this year's record breaking Race and some of the advancements made in the local autism community thanks
To kick off the evening, NFAR awarded prizes to the Race top fundraisers. The Team Captains of Team Ava (with a record number of 110 team members) was honored with the Top Team Prize of an all expense paid luxury Cabo vacation courtesy of Rui Resorts & Hotels and SOPHIE Radio 103.7.
Our first presenter for the evening was Dr. Eric Courchesne, Director of UCSD's Autism Center of Excellence and NFAR Board member. He presented on the groundbreaking progress of UCSD ACE Early Identification Study. Other presenters included special education teacher ,Kim Brown of the Encinitas Unified School District on her Video Modeling and Training Project, Educators Bonnie Thomason and Kelli Xitco, Poway Unified School District on their creation of a Friday Special Interest Club, and Sharna Langlais, Director of Development COMPASS Family Center about the COMPASS Family Center 's Parent Training Seminars on Adult Transition. The evening presentation concluded with Sue Schulte, Director and Chayo Chavez Stein Recreation Director, both of the Vista Hill Stein Education Center presenting both examples and praises of what their students have been able to learn and accomplish using the technologies supplied by the NFAR grants.
Thank you to all our presenters and attendees for a fun and enjoyable evening.
