Fund FACT's Future

This Giving Tuesday, a Lifetime of Community Starts with YOU! FACT provides autistic individuals ages 6+ a place where they can feel at home, be themselves, make friends, and be part of a community! FACT programs provide the opportunity for participants to gain ambition and confidence by being immersed in community activities while surrounded by positive role models.

At FACT, we grow with you and our autistic participants no longer age out of FACT programs! What started almost 30 years ago as one week of summer camp for 5 autistic kids has grown to year-round social, recreational, and vocational programming for more than 400 separate autistic individuals a year with our youngest participant being 6 years old and the oldest being 51. 

Many FACT participants have been coming to our programs for the majority of their life. For Giving Tuesday this year, we want to highlight the journeys of a couple members of the FACT Family who have grown up with FACT and how FACT has grown up with them! Check out their stories below.

Without the generosity and gifts from our community over the last 30 years, these stories and so many more like them would not exist! Please consider giving the gift of Community for a Lifetime this holiday season and help us reach our goal of raising $5,000 on Tuesday, December 2nd to continue to provide a lifetime of opportunities for community for all the awesome individuals we serve!

"FACT helps me live a happy life. FACT is my family, and so are YOU!" - Aaron

Meet Aaron! Aaron started coming to FACT almost 15 years ago when he was 12 years old. When Aaron and his family first moved here from New York City, he was sad to leave his old home. However, through FACT, he has found Family & Friends Forever!

Aaron is now 27 and thriving. He has a great group of buddies through FACT including his pals Cameron and Langston (the three of them are pictured above). The friendship and bond they made at FACT now extends beyond our programs. In November, Aaron, Cameron, and Langston got together to go to Dave & Busters for fun and games to celebrate Langston's birthday before making their way to FACT's Homecoming Dance to party and bust out their dance moves!

Aaron has grown up with FACT and he considers both the staff and his friends here to be his family (you know you've made it into his FACT family if he gives you a Marvel character nickname). Whether he is spending time with his girlfriend (another FACT participant), his buddies, volunteering with our CEO at other charity events, or dressing up in a full Spider-Man costume to rock climb during FACT's Social Club, Aaron always has friends and family to rely on at FACT. 

FACT means the world to Aaron, as he can tell you best in is his video testimonial below, and the FACT Family wouldn't be possible without the generosity of our amazing community members like YOU! Please consider giving the gift of Community for a Lifetime this holiday season and help us reach our goal of raising $5,000!

DONATE ABOVE!

Meet Our Buddy Nolan!

For our first story of the giving season, we wanted to introduce you to our buddy Nolan! Nolan's mom started putting him in FACT programs as soon as he turned 6 years old and he has been lighting up our lives and keeping us on our toes every since. 

Over the past 4 years, we have had the honor of getting to see him grow up before our very eyes (and you can too, check out the pictures of Nolan over the years)! Nolan loves running, playing, chewing on his favorite toys, and climbing all over his friends at FACT! 

One of our favorite Nolan memories is when he was in our Spring Musical program! Like many of the autistic individuals we serve, Nolan is non-speaking. Despite this, FACT staff worked to make sure Nolan was just as involved of a performer as his speaking peers. Nolan utilized his AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) device to say his lines and was crucial during scene transitions as FACT staff worked one-on-one with Nolan to indicate scene transitions with handheld signs and walked through the crowd as the hype man for his friends. After the dress rehearsal for the musical, we noted that despite being the only non-speaking performer, he was the only person who was on time with all of his cues and didn't miss a step!

Without the generosity and gifts from our community, Nolan wouldn't be able to grow up with these friends and memories and a future where he never ages out of the FACT community! Please consider giving the gift of Community for a Lifetime this holiday season and help us reach our goal of raising $5,000 to help continue to provide a lifetime of opportunities for Nolan and the many others like him who grow up here!

DONATE ABOVE

Volunteer to Career

FACT's Lifetime of Community isn't just for our autistic participants, but for everyone involved with FACT!

Meet Sheri Bragg, FACT's Director of Programming! Sheri started her journey with FACT when she was 9-years-old. Sheri's mom told her she couldn't sit on the couch all summer so she decided to volunteer as an inclusion camper at FACT's Camp GonnawannaGOagin'. That one decision at 9 to give back led Sheri to a community and career.

Over the last 23 years, Sheri has grown up at FACT with her autistic friends. Sheri loved her work so much she decided to go to ODU to get her degree in special education. After college, she got a job teaching special education and eventually got her Master's in Applied Behavior Analysis. During that entire time, Sheri continued to work part-time for FACT and increase her impact on our FACT Family.

In 2019, when FACT decided to hire a full-time Director of Programming, Sheri was the clear choice and she has been overseeing FACT programs ever since. Over the last 6 years, Sheri has been instrumental in FACT's growth through her involvement with planning the layout for FACT's Autism Resource Center, helping us grow from 8 hours of social/recreational programming a week during the school year to 30 hours, overseeing the creation of FACT's HERO (Helping Employees Reach Outcomes) workforce program from scratch, expanding summer camp to 7 weeks to serve more people than ever before, and creating new adult programs that allow FACT to now provide Community for a Lifetime.

Sheri is a key member of the FACT family and even incorporates her own family into FACT on a regular basis. Her two young daughters love visiting mom at work and always enjoy "Mommy's Play Office" (aka the Sensory Gym). We look forward to the girls following in their mom's footsteps as a volunteer once they turn 10!

Sheri is one of many former inclusion campers and staff whose lives and career choices were shaped by their time with FACT and who have gone on to become lifelong advocates for our autism community. These stories of young people dedicating their life to helping others wouldn't exist without the generosity of our amazing community members like YOU! Please consider giving the gift of Community for a Lifetime this holiday season and help us reach our goal of raising $5,000!

DONATE ABOVE!

Participant & Professional

For our final story this Giving Tuesday, we want to introduce you to Daniel! Daniel's experiences at FACT demonstrate the breadth of opportunities offered to our awesomely autistic friends, from work to play.

Daniel first started attending FACT programs when he was 17 and his involvement has only grown in adulthood. Now 30, FACT has provided Daniel with a plethora of experiences such as Busch Gardens Christmas Town with his buddies, summer camp outings, bowling, cooking, performing in a musical, learning to play the drums, and plenty of other adventures! 

Daniel's biggest adventure began in 2024 when he started working for FACT in our HERO (Helping Employees Reach Outcomes) program. Daniel, with support from FACT's Employment Specialist, works the front desk and gift shop every Monday and participates in trainings with his coworkers every Wednesday where he learns crucial vocational and life skills while working on various projects around the Autism Resource Center.

Whether Daniel is here for work or play, we are always happy to see his big smile, learn all his interesting movie facts, hear about the Philadelphia Eagles' season, and continue to watch him grow! 

Daniel's opportunities to work, learn, and play in a supportive community setting wouldn't exist without the generosity of our amazing community members like YOU! Please consider giving the gift of Community for a Lifetime this holiday season and help us reach our goal of raising $5,000!

DONATE ABOVE