April 1, 2025 • 18 mins
"You saved my family, you saved my marriage." These words, whispered by a grateful father to Rudy Thoms, crystallized the purpose behind Autism Strong—a foundation born not from ambition, but necessity.
When Rudy and Becky Thoms' son Landon was diagnosed with severe nonverbal autism nearly 16 years ago, they never imagined their personal struggle would transform into a movement that would help thousands of families. What began as questioning "why us?" evolved into a clear mission: supporting families facing the overwhelming financial burdens of autism therapy.
Unlike national organizations focused primarily on research, Autism Strong meets families where they are today. They provide direct financial assistance for critical therapies—occupational, speech, physical, and applied behavioral analysis—paying providers directly on behalf of families caught in an impossible position: making too much for Medicaid but still struggling to afford care. With remarkable efficiency, 94 cents of every donated dollar flows back into the community, helping families who might otherwise choose between paying bills or providing therapy.
From a single CrossFit fundraiser to multiple signature events—including their recent Hope Strong Gala that raised $680,000 with 750 attendees—Autism Strong has expanded throughout the Carolinas. Their programs create judgment-free spaces where special needs families find both resources and community, combating the isolation many experience. As Rudy poignantly observes, "While Landon is nonverbal, meaning he cannot speak, his voice is louder than ever."
With autism now affecting 1 in 36 American children, the need has never been greater. Visit autismstrongorg to volunteer, donate, or apply for assistance, and join a movement that proves how profound purpose can emerge from personal challenge.
Autism Strong Foundation
Rudy Thoms
9935-D Rea Road Suite 253
Charlotte, NC 28277
704-981-2740
Email: hello@autismstrong.org
autismstrong.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Today I am so happy to betalking with Rudy Thoms.
He and his wife Becky I had thepleasure of meeting a few weeks
ago and they are the foundersof Autism Strong, based here in
Charlotte.
How are you, rudy?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm doing great.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good, good.
You have a beautiful family andI so enjoyed meeting you guys
and all your fur babies.
My goodness, you have a fullhousehold, a busy household, I
sure do, yeah.
Yeah well, let's get startedand dive into Autism Strong, and
let's start with what is yourwhy.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, I never woke up one day and said, hey, I want
to run a non-profit.
That wasn't in my life plan.
And it also wasn't in my lifeplan to have a son with severe
nonverbal autism.
Both of them just happened.
And they happened, obviously,um, with landon being diagnosed
now it's going back almost 16years ago, so it's been a while
(01:20):
and for a long time I questionedwhy, you know why.
And then ultimately, when westarted trying to raise
awareness to autism, it justorganically happened where we
felt like we were called to dosomething better and called to
use Landon's story for good andultimately that's where Autism
(01:42):
Strong was born.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Well, your website has just an amazing video.
So heartfelt in the journey andyou know it's super amazing
what you guys are doing.
So share with us what themission of the foundation is and
what you guys actually provide.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, great question.
The mission of Autism Strong isto provide resources for
families that are strugglingwith an autism diagnosis.
Okay, well, what does that mean?
A lot of big nationalnonprofits survey more of a
long-term plan planning purpose,where they might put a lot of
their money into research, whichis great and it's important as
(02:26):
we look at research and findingwhat's causing autism, helping
look at long-term planning forautism, where our foundation
meets families where they aretoday.
So what does that actually mean?
A lot of families arestruggling with paying for their
co-pays, paying for things likeot, occupational therapy,
(02:47):
speech therapy, pt or abatherapy, which is applied
behavioral analysis, which isthe most intense autism therapy.
They have to choose betweenpaying their power bill or
getting their child therapy.
So we actually financially helpthose families through our
scholarship programs.
That's where about 70% of ourmoney goes directly into paying
(03:10):
for therapy for children.
We don't ever pay the familiesdirectly.
We pay the therapy centers onbehalf of the families.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Okay, so are you partnering with certain people
that do this?
Is that how it works?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
We are.
Yeah, Ultimately there's a lotof different OT, PT, ABA centers
around the Charlotte or theCarolinas area that ultimately
they will send folks to us thatare applying for scholarships
and the family has to actuallyfill out a scholarship
application and ultimately ourboard reviews those at the end
(03:45):
of the um, the scholarshipopening, and then we grant those
scholarships so what are youlooking for in that application?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
how do you make your decision?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
yeah, no, it's a great question we do require,
like w-2s, and ultimately whatwe want to do is, you know, know
there's folks that are on theMedicaid right the Medicaid it's
covered for those but the vastmajority are above that Medicaid
poverty line.
So when you think about it,you're talking about, you know,
a mom or a family that has twokids and they, you know, might
(04:18):
make $80,000 a year and they'rehaving to choose, right, how do
I afford therapy and also paythe bills and what have you?
So we're looking for familiesthat really are in need right,
and so our board has beenunbelievable at really helping
(04:39):
raise money so we can supportmore and more families.
Just this past year, we crossedover.
We're now in the thousands offamilies that we've helped here
in the last 10 years, which isjust fantastic.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
What is the most challenging part of you know?
When you launch this and andkeeping it going?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
um, that's a great question.
The most challenging part forme is just getting our name out
there and more awareness,because if you look at your big
national brand company, theytypically will have support big
national nonprofits which, onceagain, if you go back to where a
(05:19):
lot of their money goes, itgoes into research and long-term
goals, where a lot of familiesare struggling today.
So, getting more awareness,getting in front of the right
people to say, hey, we'resupporting local families today,
how can we partner together andwe've been blessed to work with
companies like Lennar, likeChote, which are local companies
(05:41):
that have learned about ourmission and said you know, we
want to stand shoulder toshoulder with you, we want to
help the local families today.
Once again, those big naturalnonprofits serve a good long
term purpose, but when familiesare struggling today, awareness
is a big piece.
How do we get in front of thesefolks so they can actually see
what we're doing?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Do you have volunteers that have?
There's not autism in theirlife, but yet they have the
heart to serve.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Oh, 1000%.
We are.
My wife and I never take creditfor this.
This is 100%.
The we've been successful dueto folks that have come along
shoulder to shoulder with us onthis journey that may not even
have a child with autism.
They just love what we're doing, love our mission, and I mean I
(06:35):
can't tell you the countlessnumber of volunteers that have,
whether they've been just avolunteer or they served on
their board.
That may not even have apersonal connection to autism,
but they love what we do andthey love that they can see it
in local families.
They love that they get to seethe local families and see the
impact or hear the impact at agala or what have you.
So, absolutely, we have beenblessed to be surrounded by such
(07:00):
amazing people.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So talk about some of the fundraising events that you
guys offer and run.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah for sure.
We started off with just aCrossFit event.
It was called AMRAP for Autism,which, for those that are not
in CrossFit, which means as manyreps as possible.
For the first few years.
That's all we did, and we gaveactually all the money for the
first three years to a bignational nonprofit because we
were just trying to raiseawareness.
What we found is my wife and Irealized that folks weren't
(07:28):
comfortable talking to us aboutour own son, so we just want to
raise awareness.
So for the first three yearsall we did was that one event a
year and it was a CrossFit event.
After that third year, werealized something was missing
and, like I said, we were calledto do something better and
bigger, and that's when westarted Autism Strong.
Since then, we branched out,where we still do our AMRAP for
(07:49):
Autism.
Once again, it's still a stapleevent for us and we've now
moved to doing things like BuildStrong in the fall, which is a
partnership with ChokeConstructionoke Construction is
an all day festival out inSymphony Park, usually in the
October timeframe, where it's afestival for families that have
children with special needs.
Why is that important?
(08:09):
Well, that's important becausemost families with special needs
, a lot of times they feel alone, they feel isolated.
They want to lay in store withtheir child with special needs,
they feel different.
This is a non-judge, it's ajudgment-free zone and they can
go there and they can besurrounded by folks that are
walking a similar journey.
So that's a big event.
We do with choke instruction.
Another event that we do in theum fall is angels for autism,
(08:34):
which is a um a program that wedo lennar homes, we do it with
honeywell and we will supportlocal families for the holiday
season.
We don't just support the childwith autism, we support the
entire family.
So we work with the schoolsystem to identify those
families that are truly in needand, regina, when I say they're
in need, they're asking forthings like socks, shoes,
(08:57):
jackets and ultimately we have ateam that works incredibly well
to provide these and weactually hand deliver these
gifts around the holidays.
And then another big event thatwe do is our gala.
So this past, you know about afew weeks ago we did our fourth
annual Hope Strong galaala.
It's a blue tie event forautism blue signifying autism
(09:21):
and that is a great event andit's it's exactly what you
expect from a gala, where you,you know, have live auction,
silo auction, just a room fullof people with their hearts wide
open.
We had 750 people in attendancejust a few weeks ago.
We raised $680,000.
So it's just it's unbelievable.
(09:41):
And then we do a lot of smallerevents.
So Connect Strong was one wejust did a couple weeks ago.
It was more of an informationalconference, setting for
families that are strugglingwith the diagnosis, need
resources, so vendors come toshare, you know, about whether
it's therapy, whether it's aboutfinancial planning, whether
it's about navigating the schoolsystem and the IEP.
(10:01):
So that program was justactually just last weekend.
So there's a lot of things thatwe do not only just on the
fundraising side, but also onthe on the educational and the
resource side.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, so Landon is 17 now.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
He is.
He turned 17 a couple weeks ago, lord knows.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Wow, I know.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
And you started the foundation when In 2016 is when
we got our IRS 501c3.
We actually started in 2014with those few events that we
gave all the money to a largernational nonprofit, but we got
accredited by the IRS with ourown 501c3 in 2016.
So it's crazy.
(10:40):
It's been less than 10 yearsand in less than 10 years we
have raised over $5 million forthe local community.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
That's incredible.
But what have you seen as faras awareness in autism in Landon
and your journey and then sincethe foundation?
I think you know all of us areway more aware now.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah, I mean when, when Landon was diagnosed, I
didn't know anything aboutautism, I didn't know anybody,
and I think there has been, overthe past 10 to 15 years, much
more awareness.
Now the diagnosis rate hasgotten significantly worse,
(11:24):
meaning we're now in one in 36children have a diagnosis with
autism in the US, one in 36.
So think about that, thinkabout a classroom size.
But when we were growing up,right, you didn't hear about it.
Right, you might have a specialneeds classroom.
So the diagnosis has gottenwider.
But also there's somethinggoing on that is causing more
children to be diagnosed and Ido know there's a lot of folks
(11:46):
that are looking into thatbecause there is so much more
awareness to it, which is great.
And that's where that long termand some of those things are
really, really important to helpus understand what is actually
going on.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, I mean, you're right.
I didn't even know it existedand really didn't understand it.
So what you guys are doing isamazing.
What is the most rewarding partof you and Becky's journey with
this foundation?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, yeah.
I love this question because,as I alluded to earlier, for a
long time, you know, both Beckand I are we walk in our faith
and I will tell you.
We question why God?
Why our son?
And then the second that Ihugged the family of our first
(12:36):
scholarship recipient.
I remember the father leanedinto me, he leaned into my ear
and he said you saved my family,you saved my marriage.
And as I was man, as I waswalking away from that, it
clicked.
I automatically knew whyAtlanta was put my life.
It wasn't so much for us, forBeck and I, it was to share his
(12:59):
story to help other families.
So that's probably the mostgratifying is, while Landon is
nonverbal, meaning he cannotspeak, his voice is a little
louder than ever?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Oh, I love that.
What are some of themisconceptions that you're
finding with autism?
Speaker 3 (13:17):
The biggest misconception is that it's
curable.
You know, hey, I can just curethem, no problem, you just do
this.
And you know, even withinsurance companies, there are
absolutely children with autismthat get better, and that's
where that intensive therapy canhelp them cope with the things
(13:37):
that are going on with them.
Or they can learn to go fromnon-verbal to verbal, which is
huge right, and they can growwithin their diagnosis, um, or
they outgrow autism is anotherway that you hear is, oh,
they'll outgrow it and what haveyou?
Um, those are prettymisconceptions.
And the last one is you know,when all all children with
(14:00):
autism are the same, right, thesaying is, really, when you meet
a child with autism, you metone child with autism.
They all have a lot ofdifferences, um to you know
what's, what's what theystruggle with, and so, um, yeah,
some of those misconceptionsare where the awareness comes in
, right, and, and ultimately we,we help family, one family at a
time, right with exactly whatthey're needing.
(14:21):
Is it speech, is it OT, is itPT, and things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Right, so amazing.
So for our listeners, how farout do you guys reach to help
those families?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, we started just in, you know, the Charlotte
area and then we branched out tothe surrounding counties.
We are now working in theAsheville area.
We're working in the Raleigharea.
So we are expanding and that'sbeen also just at the having
(14:54):
folks come along for us on thejourney.
Folks in Asheville had said hey, raising their hand, say I want
to help.
Same thing in Raleigh hey, Iwant want to help.
I love what you guys are doing.
How do we expand this?
So currently we're in justnorth and south Carolina.
We obviously do have plans toexpand.
We want that to be very organic.
One of the things that me, asthe board president, is very
focused on is we want the vastmajority of the money to go back
(15:17):
into the community.
So we want to organically grow.
But we also don't want to havea whole bunch of staff because
then it dilutes how much I wasactually getting back into the
environment right now or back inthe community right now.
94 cents of every dollar thatsomeone gives to us goes right
back into me 94 cents there'snot a lot of non-profits that
can even come close to that thatis amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Well, uh, it is such a pleasure to speak with you,
rudy, and I absolutely lovedmeeting you, your wife, alyssa,
landon and addison.
What a beautiful family and howmany fur babies are in your
house refreshments, total.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Um.
So we have five foster puppiesdownstairs, a foster mom, we
have six cats of our own, twodogs of our own, so our house is
always full of chaos, which Ilove.
Um, yeah, I love the fact thatthese puppies are kind of
learning and they're beingraised around kind of cats, dogs
(16:20):
, special needs, a lot of loudnoises, right Stuff like that,
so they actually become the bestpets because they're really not
afraid of anything and they'vebeen kind of.
These puppies have been raisedaround cats, right, and they've
been around bigger dogs and soit's been great.
So we have a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Well, they're also raised around a lot of love.
That's what I noticed.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
That's for sure.
A lot of love.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Well, they're also raised around a lot of love,
that's for sure.
A lot of love.
Well, thank you so much.
And lastly, how do ourlisteners find you guys, whether
they want to contribute,support or apply?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, so the easiest way to find us is just
autismstrongorg, and that is ourwebsite.
That is where you'll'll findapplications, whether you want
to apply for a grant or ascholarship, or whether you want
to get involved with us as avolunteer.
You can see all our eventslisted.
I will tell you.
Um, if you're thinking about it, say yes, because that is the
(17:14):
one of the best things to do isto reach your hand out and help
someone that's in need, and weneed more volunteers.
We are one.
We we get to 94 cents of everydollar going back in the
community because we rely onvolunteers to help us.
We would not and I repeat,would not be where we are
without our, our just hundredsof volunteers that have given
(17:35):
their time, um, and so I want tosay thank you to them, because
we absolutely would not be wherewe are today.
We would not have been able toraise over $5 million to help
thousands of families if itwasn't for the volunteers, so
autismstrong.
org is the best way to get ahold of us.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Rudy, thank you so much for joining us today.
You bet.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Thanks, Regina.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
No-transcript.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place
where local businesses andneighbors come together.
Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of
the Good Neighbor Podcast.
Today I am so happy to betalking with Rudy Thoms.
He and his wife Becky I had thepleasure of meeting a few weeks
ago and they are the foundersof Autism Strong, based here in
Charlotte.
How are you, rudy?
Speaker 3 (00:30):
I'm doing great.
How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good, good.
You have a beautiful family andI so enjoyed meeting you guys
and all your fur babies.
My goodness, you have a fullhousehold, a busy household, I
sure do, yeah.
Yeah well, let's get startedand dive into Autism Strong, and
let's start with what is yourwhy.
Speaker 3 (00:54):
Yeah, I never woke up one day and said, hey, I want
to run a non-profit.
That wasn't in my life plan.
And it also wasn't in my lifeplan to have a son with severe
nonverbal autism.
Both of them just happened.
And they happened, obviously,um, with landon being diagnosed
now it's going back almost 16years ago, so it's been a while
(01:20):
and for a long time I questionedwhy, you know why.
And then ultimately, when westarted trying to raise
awareness to autism, it justorganically happened where we
felt like we were called to dosomething better and called to
use Landon's story for good andultimately that's where Autism
(01:42):
Strong was born.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Well, your website has just an amazing video.
So heartfelt in the journey andyou know it's super amazing
what you guys are doing.
So share with us what themission of the foundation is and
what you guys actually provide.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, great question.
The mission of Autism Strong isto provide resources for
families that are strugglingwith an autism diagnosis.
Okay, well, what does that mean?
A lot of big nationalnonprofits survey more of a
long-term plan planning purpose,where they might put a lot of
their money into research, whichis great and it's important as
(02:26):
we look at research and findingwhat's causing autism, helping
look at long-term planning forautism, where our foundation
meets families where they aretoday.
So what does that actually mean?
A lot of families arestruggling with paying for their
co-pays, paying for things likeot, occupational therapy,
(02:47):
speech therapy, pt or abatherapy, which is applied
behavioral analysis, which isthe most intense autism therapy.
They have to choose betweenpaying their power bill or
getting their child therapy.
So we actually financially helpthose families through our
scholarship programs.
That's where about 70% of ourmoney goes directly into paying
(03:10):
for therapy for children.
We don't ever pay the familiesdirectly.
We pay the therapy centers onbehalf of the families.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Okay, so are you partnering with certain people
that do this?
Is that how it works?
Speaker 3 (03:24):
We are.
Yeah, Ultimately there's a lotof different OT, PT, ABA centers
around the Charlotte or theCarolinas area that ultimately
they will send folks to us thatare applying for scholarships
and the family has to actuallyfill out a scholarship
application and ultimately ourboard reviews those at the end
(03:45):
of the um, the scholarshipopening, and then we grant those
scholarships so what are youlooking for in that application?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
how do you make your decision?
Speaker 3 (03:56):
yeah, no, it's a great question we do require,
like w-2s, and ultimately whatwe want to do is, you know, know
there's folks that are on theMedicaid right the Medicaid it's
covered for those but the vastmajority are above that Medicaid
poverty line.
So when you think about it,you're talking about, you know,
a mom or a family that has twokids and they, you know, might
(04:18):
make $80,000 a year and they'rehaving to choose, right, how do
I afford therapy and also paythe bills and what have you?
So we're looking for familiesthat really are in need right,
and so our board has beenunbelievable at really helping
(04:39):
raise money so we can supportmore and more families.
Just this past year, we crossedover.
We're now in the thousands offamilies that we've helped here
in the last 10 years, which isjust fantastic.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
What is the most challenging part of you know?
When you launch this and andkeeping it going?
Speaker 3 (04:57):
um, that's a great question.
The most challenging part forme is just getting our name out
there and more awareness,because if you look at your big
national brand company, theytypically will have support big
national nonprofits which, onceagain, if you go back to where a
(05:19):
lot of their money goes, itgoes into research and long-term
goals, where a lot of familiesare struggling today.
So, getting more awareness,getting in front of the right
people to say, hey, we'resupporting local families today,
how can we partner together andwe've been blessed to work with
companies like Lennar, likeChote, which are local companies
(05:41):
that have learned about ourmission and said you know, we
want to stand shoulder toshoulder with you, we want to
help the local families today.
Once again, those big naturalnonprofits serve a good long
term purpose, but when familiesare struggling today, awareness
is a big piece.
How do we get in front of thesefolks so they can actually see
what we're doing?
Speaker 2 (06:03):
Do you have volunteers that have?
There's not autism in theirlife, but yet they have the
heart to serve.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
Oh, 1000%.
We are.
My wife and I never take creditfor this.
This is 100%.
The we've been successful dueto folks that have come along
shoulder to shoulder with us onthis journey that may not even
have a child with autism.
They just love what we're doing, love our mission, and I mean I
(06:35):
can't tell you the countlessnumber of volunteers that have,
whether they've been just avolunteer or they served on
their board.
That may not even have apersonal connection to autism,
but they love what we do andthey love that they can see it
in local families.
They love that they get to seethe local families and see the
impact or hear the impact at agala or what have you.
So, absolutely, we have beenblessed to be surrounded by such
(07:00):
amazing people.
Speaker 2 (07:01):
So talk about some of the fundraising events that you
guys offer and run.
Speaker 3 (07:07):
Yeah for sure.
We started off with just aCrossFit event.
It was called AMRAP for Autism,which, for those that are not
in CrossFit, which means as manyreps as possible.
For the first few years.
That's all we did, and we gaveactually all the money for the
first three years to a bignational nonprofit because we
were just trying to raiseawareness.
What we found is my wife and Irealized that folks weren't
(07:28):
comfortable talking to us aboutour own son, so we just want to
raise awareness.
So for the first three yearsall we did was that one event a
year and it was a CrossFit event.
After that third year, werealized something was missing
and, like I said, we were calledto do something better and
bigger, and that's when westarted Autism Strong.
Since then, we branched out,where we still do our AMRAP for
(07:49):
Autism.
Once again, it's still a stapleevent for us and we've now
moved to doing things like BuildStrong in the fall, which is a
partnership with ChokeConstructionoke Construction is
an all day festival out inSymphony Park, usually in the
October timeframe, where it's afestival for families that have
children with special needs.
Why is that important?
(08:09):
Well, that's important becausemost families with special needs
, a lot of times they feel alone, they feel isolated.
They want to lay in store withtheir child with special needs,
they feel different.
This is a non-judge, it's ajudgment-free zone and they can
go there and they can besurrounded by folks that are
walking a similar journey.
So that's a big event.
We do with choke instruction.
Another event that we do in theum fall is angels for autism,
(08:34):
which is a um a program that wedo lennar homes, we do it with
honeywell and we will supportlocal families for the holiday
season.
We don't just support the childwith autism, we support the
entire family.
So we work with the schoolsystem to identify those
families that are truly in needand, regina, when I say they're
in need, they're asking forthings like socks, shoes,
(08:57):
jackets and ultimately we have ateam that works incredibly well
to provide these and weactually hand deliver these
gifts around the holidays.
And then another big event thatwe do is our gala.
So this past, you know about afew weeks ago we did our fourth
annual Hope Strong galaala.
It's a blue tie event forautism blue signifying autism
(09:21):
and that is a great event andit's it's exactly what you
expect from a gala, where you,you know, have live auction,
silo auction, just a room fullof people with their hearts wide
open.
We had 750 people in attendancejust a few weeks ago.
We raised $680,000.
So it's just it's unbelievable.
(09:41):
And then we do a lot of smallerevents.
So Connect Strong was one wejust did a couple weeks ago.
It was more of an informationalconference, setting for
families that are strugglingwith the diagnosis, need
resources, so vendors come toshare, you know, about whether
it's therapy, whether it's aboutfinancial planning, whether
it's about navigating the schoolsystem and the IEP.
(10:01):
So that program was justactually just last weekend.
So there's a lot of things thatwe do not only just on the
fundraising side, but also onthe on the educational and the
resource side.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yeah, so Landon is 17 now.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
He is.
He turned 17 a couple weeks ago, lord knows.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Wow, I know.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
And you started the foundation when In 2016 is when
we got our IRS 501c3.
We actually started in 2014with those few events that we
gave all the money to a largernational nonprofit, but we got
accredited by the IRS with ourown 501c3 in 2016.
So it's crazy.
(10:40):
It's been less than 10 yearsand in less than 10 years we
have raised over $5 million forthe local community.
Speaker 2 (10:48):
That's incredible.
But what have you seen as faras awareness in autism in Landon
and your journey and then sincethe foundation?
I think you know all of us areway more aware now.
Speaker 3 (11:03):
Yeah, I mean when, when Landon was diagnosed, I
didn't know anything aboutautism, I didn't know anybody,
and I think there has been, overthe past 10 to 15 years, much
more awareness.
Now the diagnosis rate hasgotten significantly worse,
(11:24):
meaning we're now in one in 36children have a diagnosis with
autism in the US, one in 36.
So think about that, thinkabout a classroom size.
But when we were growing up,right, you didn't hear about it.
Right, you might have a specialneeds classroom.
So the diagnosis has gottenwider.
But also there's somethinggoing on that is causing more
children to be diagnosed and Ido know there's a lot of folks
(11:46):
that are looking into thatbecause there is so much more
awareness to it, which is great.
And that's where that long termand some of those things are
really, really important to helpus understand what is actually
going on.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Yeah, I mean, you're right.
I didn't even know it existedand really didn't understand it.
So what you guys are doing isamazing.
What is the most rewarding partof you and Becky's journey with
this foundation?
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Yeah, yeah.
I love this question because,as I alluded to earlier, for a
long time, you know, both Beckand I are we walk in our faith
and I will tell you.
We question why God?
Why our son?
And then the second that Ihugged the family of our first
(12:36):
scholarship recipient.
I remember the father leanedinto me, he leaned into my ear
and he said you saved my family,you saved my marriage.
And as I was man, as I waswalking away from that, it
clicked.
I automatically knew whyAtlanta was put my life.
It wasn't so much for us, forBeck and I, it was to share his
(12:59):
story to help other families.
So that's probably the mostgratifying is, while Landon is
nonverbal, meaning he cannotspeak, his voice is a little
louder than ever?
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Oh, I love that.
What are some of themisconceptions that you're
finding with autism?
Speaker 3 (13:17):
The biggest misconception is that it's
curable.
You know, hey, I can just curethem, no problem, you just do
this.
And you know, even withinsurance companies, there are
absolutely children with autismthat get better, and that's
where that intensive therapy canhelp them cope with the things
(13:37):
that are going on with them.
Or they can learn to go fromnon-verbal to verbal, which is
huge right, and they can growwithin their diagnosis, um, or
they outgrow autism is anotherway that you hear is, oh,
they'll outgrow it and what haveyou?
Um, those are prettymisconceptions.
And the last one is you know,when all all children with
(14:00):
autism are the same, right, thesaying is, really, when you meet
a child with autism, you metone child with autism.
They all have a lot ofdifferences, um to you know
what's, what's what theystruggle with, and so, um, yeah,
some of those misconceptionsare where the awareness comes in
, right, and, and ultimately we,we help family, one family at a
time, right with exactly whatthey're needing.
(14:21):
Is it speech, is it OT, is itPT, and things of that nature.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Right, so amazing.
So for our listeners, how farout do you guys reach to help
those families?
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Yeah, we started just in, you know, the Charlotte
area and then we branched out tothe surrounding counties.
We are now working in theAsheville area.
We're working in the Raleigharea.
So we are expanding and that'sbeen also just at the having
(14:54):
folks come along for us on thejourney.
Folks in Asheville had said hey, raising their hand, say I want
to help.
Same thing in Raleigh hey, Iwant want to help.
I love what you guys are doing.
How do we expand this?
So currently we're in justnorth and south Carolina.
We obviously do have plans toexpand.
We want that to be very organic.
One of the things that me, asthe board president, is very
focused on is we want the vastmajority of the money to go back
(15:17):
into the community.
So we want to organically grow.
But we also don't want to havea whole bunch of staff because
then it dilutes how much I wasactually getting back into the
environment right now or back inthe community right now.
94 cents of every dollar thatsomeone gives to us goes right
back into me 94 cents there'snot a lot of non-profits that
can even come close to that thatis amazing.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
Well, uh, it is such a pleasure to speak with you,
rudy, and I absolutely lovedmeeting you, your wife, alyssa,
landon and addison.
What a beautiful family and howmany fur babies are in your
house refreshments, total.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
Um.
So we have five foster puppiesdownstairs, a foster mom, we
have six cats of our own, twodogs of our own, so our house is
always full of chaos, which Ilove.
Um, yeah, I love the fact thatthese puppies are kind of
learning and they're beingraised around kind of cats, dogs
(16:20):
, special needs, a lot of loudnoises, right Stuff like that,
so they actually become the bestpets because they're really not
afraid of anything and they'vebeen kind of.
These puppies have been raisedaround cats, right, and they've
been around bigger dogs and soit's been great.
So we have a lot.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Well, they're also raised around a lot of love.
That's what I noticed.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
That's for sure.
A lot of love.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Well, they're also raised around a lot of love,
that's for sure.
A lot of love.
Well, thank you so much.
And lastly, how do ourlisteners find you guys, whether
they want to contribute,support or apply?
Speaker 3 (16:51):
Yeah, so the easiest way to find us is just
autismstrongorg, and that is ourwebsite.
That is where you'll'll findapplications, whether you want
to apply for a grant or ascholarship, or whether you want
to get involved with us as avolunteer.
You can see all our eventslisted.
I will tell you.
Um, if you're thinking about it, say yes, because that is the
(17:14):
one of the best things to do isto reach your hand out and help
someone that's in need, and weneed more volunteers.
We are one.
We we get to 94 cents of everydollar going back in the
community because we rely onvolunteers to help us.
We would not and I repeat,would not be where we are
without our, our just hundredsof volunteers that have given
(17:35):
their time, um, and so I want tosay thank you to them, because
we absolutely would not be wherewe are today.
We would not have been able toraise over $5 million to help
thousands of families if itwasn't for the volunteers, so
autismstrong.
org is the best way to get ahold of us.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Rudy, thank you so much for joining us today.
You bet.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Thanks, Regina.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast.
No-transcript.
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