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**Technical shirts available for a $5 donation! See below**
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2011 – A Year of Success . . .
Happy New Year to everyone in the Mari Hall Family Foundation family of supporters and friends! We hope that your holidays were happy ones and that they will provide warm memories for years to come.
Looking back over the preceding year, we hope the many of you who worked so hard to make the Second Annual Mari’s Miles of Smiles 10K and Family Fun Fest a great success will take great satisfaction in that accomplishment. Sponsorships were up over 33% from 2010, and considering the near catastrophe we had with the weather on Friday and Saturday, the fact that only eight fewer runners finished our race than the year before was a huge victory! We witnessed a new women’s 10K course record – 42:00 - set by Madeleine Marecki of Pleasantville, New York, while our men’s winner was Brendan Murray of Cheshire, whose time of 39:37 would be impressive under any circumstances…..but particularly so considering young Master Murray is only 10 years old!
And in a triumph of Yankee ingenuity, the Fun Fest activities were moved – on a half hour’s notice, no less – inside the Norton School gymnasium, and the Fun Run (think short track speed skating) was moved to the upper parking lot. This portion of the event raises tremendous goodwill and was again a resounding success despite all of the meteorological challenges that arose.
Accordingly, the Mari Hall Family Foundation is pleased to report that our fundraising efforts for 2011 far exceeded 2010, in great part due to Miles of Smiles and year long contributions from individual donors and friends. As a result we will be donating $10,000 to the Darcey School Early Intervention Center, a 33% percent increase (yeah!) over last year. The money has been earmarked in part for the purchase of several new Ipad tablet computers for the EIC’s use with children in their programs. The tablet technology and functionality has proven very promising in the area of language acquisition and expression among persons on the autism spectrum and those facing other challenges. (For a very heartwarming and encouraging report regarding their use and the success educators have found using the Ipads, please check out Lesley Stahl’s 60 Minutes feature, “Apps for Autism”, which originally aired in November 2011)
Additionally, we will be donating $2,500 to the Autism Spectrum Resource Center in Wallingford. ASRC has been at the forefront of support and advocacy for and on behalf of families dealing with autism for over fifteen years. They are a terrific organization and one that provides services and information for families throughout the state.
I imagine the story in our family is the same as many with children with autism: it was the observations of a caring loved one outside of our home who was concerned and encouraged us to have our daughter, Mari, assessed. In our case it was my mother, Maureen, who gently – but firmly – noted Mari’s behavior diverging from her twin sister, Kate’s, and that whatever might be at stake, it was better to confront it head on as early as possible. Whether we were in denial or just hopeful, that parental push was instrumental in our efforts to get have Mari assessed and in a Birth to Three program only weeks after her second birthday.
Maureen passed away on December 16, 2011, and we take great comfort in the fact she was able to witness first hand the great strides Mari has made over the past four years. And mom would’ve been so humbled and pleased in the number of memorial contributions made in her name to our Foundation, as are we.
It is fitting, then, that through those contributions and the efforts of all of our volunteers, donors, runners and other supporters, we will be offering in 2012 the Maureen C. Hall Memorial Scholarship, which will be a $1,000 grant to a graduating Cheshire High School senior who has demonstrated compassion and friendship through volunteer work to children with special needs throughout his or her high school career, and who plans to pursue a Special Education degree in college. We will provide further details on our Facebook page and our website as the application criteria is finalized and developed over the next few months.
Looking Forward in 2012
We look forward to staying in touch with all of you throughout the upcoming twelve months, and to finding new and creative ways to raise funds for our cause, in addition to our hallmark, Mari’s Miles of Smiles. There are so many worthy causes that seek to raise money globally, nationally, regionally and locally, and we are grateful that so many have given so much to our Foundation, particularly in these uncertain economic times. Here’s to a healthy and prosperous 2012 for everyone
Matt Hall, President
The Mari Hall Family Foundation, Inc.
For a $5 donation, we will send you a 2011 Mari’s Miles of Smiles tech shirt. Donate online or send a check payable to the Mari Hall Family Foundation, P.O. Box 162, Cheshire, CT 06410. Email us at milesofsmiles@marihallfoundation.org and let us know your shirt size and mailing address.
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