Current mood:
busy
I just got back from Canada, ya'll! People have a different vibe up there. Canadians are much more accepting, it seems. I did my first book signing there. No one even suggested that I do one here in the U.S. I'm currently looking for sponsors to make a second trip back to Canada. I was invited to take part in an annual October program put on by autistic children, teens and adults. I want to be a part of this but, I will need some sponsorship support to do it. This is finally what I've been trying to do. This can lead to lecturing and other types of educational appearances.
I'm also gonna record a single. This will be available before the October Canada date. I want to have something people can come away with when they come to see me for the second time. Some already have the book but, to have some music will be awesome! Eventually, I will make an entire album of songs for the entire family! It's all about family!
My buddy MC Hammer and I spoke on the phone about him getting involved with the Autism Community. He so generously sent tweets (that's messages from the social network "Twitter") to his fans and any others that were paying attention to my radio blogcast on July 16th. It can still be accessed at www.BlogTalkRadio.com. Just search for any blogcasts with my name - Michael Buckholtz. The program is Tricia Kenney's "Embrace Autism".
I'm currently in the process of raising $4.5 million dollars for www.aacfinc.org. This is NOT an easy thing to do but, let's put this in perspective. All that's needed is for me to reach 4 million people. That's half of the population of NYC (New York City, NY has 8 million folks). Now either 4 million people can give a small donation or $25 dollars to make it $100 million dollars raised. If that were the case, AACF, Inc. would no longer have to raise money again. You heard me! It's all we would need to make the program work. We can still only help 30 families or autistic adults, but, that would be every year for life.
So you see, this is not impossible. Autism Speaks raised $148 million in the past 3 years. How many stories are we hearing that anyone has been DIRECTLY assisted by them? How much have individual families recieved from Autism Speaks? What did researchers do with all that money? Why must they continue to raise funds year after year? Who are really recieving all those millions of dollars? All I have are tons of questions. I like to see families and autistic adults getting the help they need now so they can move on in life. No hand outs. Just a hand "up".
If you all continue to stand with me, my goal is to have at least $4.5 million raised by January of 2010. At that point, I will immediately start helping the 30 families or autistic adults. This is my goal and I need the help of the general public to do this. 4 million people is not a lot. 300 million reside right here in the United States. I'm sure we've got 4 million wealthy and not so wealthy folks that care enough about the Autism Community to share a mere $25 dollars. Let's do this! We can solve this problem with the involvement of 4 million average folks. No government beauracracy... none of that. Let's just do this.
Peace & Love,
Michael Buckholtz
Blog on: Tuesday, August 4, 2009 @ 22:47 EST
So you see, this is not impossible. Autism Speaks raised $148 million in the past 3 years. How many stories are we hearing that anyone has been DIRECTLY assisted by them? How much have individual families recieved from Autism Speaks? What did researchers do with all that money? Why must they continue to raise funds year after year? Who are really recieving all those millions of dollars? All I have are tons of questions. I like to see families and autistic adults getting the help they need now so they can move on in life. No hand outs. Just a hand "up".
If you all continue to stand with me, my goal is to have at least $4.5 million raised by January of 2010. At that point, I will immediately start helping the 30 families or autistic adults. This is my goal and I need the help of the general public to do this. 4 million people is not a lot. 300 million reside right here in the United States. I'm sure we've got 4 million wealthy and not so wealthy folks that care enough about the Autism Community to share a mere $25 dollars. Let's do this! We can solve this problem with the involvement of 4 million average folks. No government beauracracy... none of that. Let's just do this.
Peace & Love,
Michael Buckholtz
Blog on: Tuesday, August 4, 2009 @ 22:47 EST