March 29, 2021

Ep. 14: Ways to Get Involved with Autism Empowerment and Become an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities

Ep. 14: Ways to Get Involved with Autism Empowerment and Become an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities

Although April is Autism Acceptance Month, we practice Autism Acceptance every day at Autism Empowerment. We invite you to join us as Ambassadors for Acceptance of All Abilities! In this episode, we will share easy and helpful ways for you to get involved with and support Autism Empowerment and the work we do with Spectrum Life Magazine and our Autism Empowerment Podcast.

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Although April is Autism Acceptance Month, we practice Autism Acceptance every day at Autism Empowerment. We invite you to join us as Ambassadors for Acceptance of All Abilities! In this episode, we will share easy and helpful ways for you to get involved with and support Autism Empowerment and the work we do with Spectrum Life Magazine and our Autism Empowerment Podcast. We’ll share virtual volunteer opportunities and talk about what it means to be an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities. We’re also starting our monthly giveaway to win fun merchandise and prizes. Join hosts Karen and John Krejcha and tune in for your chance to win!

Extended Show Notes:

Episode Title:  Ways to Get Involved with Autism Empowerment and Become an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities

Since launching our podcast with Episode #1 in January 2021, we’ve received quite a few emails from listeners that want to learn more about Autism Empowerment, and how they can get involved and support the work our nonprofit does. It’s pretty exciting because we’re hearing from self-advocates, parents advocates, professionals, friends and family members who all are looking to be positive allies.

One of the positive movements we’re known for starting and promoting here locally in Southwest Washington and regionally in the Portland Oregon metro area is our pledge to be Ambassadors for Acceptance of All Abilities and building an inclusive culture of acceptance, enrichment, inspiration and empowerment wherever we may be. As many of our listeners are outside our region, we’re going to talk today about how people living in other areas can join in too.

What does it mean to be an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities? 

Every person regardless of abilities, disabilities, differences, or challenges deserves to be treated with kindness, respect and dignity.  

Being an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities means taking a pledge in your life to treat others with the same kind of acceptance that we would want to receive. Follow the golden rule. We believe that being an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities includes everyone, those with disabilities and those without. It is truly an inclusive community message that we wish to share.

Can you talk about our Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities t-shirts? 

Shirts were originally designed for our volunteers. Colors match our four foundational colors and pillars. Accept = Green, Enrich = Red, Inspire = Orange, Purple = Empower.

A lot of people have asked us about how to get them for friends or relatives and it occurred to us that it made sense to spread the message far and wide. By the end of April, we will have a merchandise store linked to our podcast where listeners can order shirts, decals, mugs and other items with that branding.

Since it’s Autism Empowerment’s 10-year-anniversary in June, we’re also planning to add different designs and products with positive messaging, including merch for the Autism Empowerment Podcast.

But before then, to support the Ambassador movement, we’re going to start off April by giving away some of the t-shirts that we already have! 

Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities Logo

Merchandise Giveaway:

We are giving away an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities T-Shirt and wristband to three lucky winners. 

  1. Go to the contact form on our AutismEmpowermentPodcast.org webpage: https://www.autismempowermentpodcast.org/contact/
  2. Fill it out and let us know why you are an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities.
  3. Deadline to enter is April 23rd, 2021. (USA only.)
  4. We will be drawing 3 winners and announcing the names on our website and podcast at the end of April.

Ways to Give

Financial Giving 

  • Through our website - www.AutismEmpowerment.org/donate (credit card)
  • Through the mail - Mail checks or money orders payable to “Autism Empowerment” and send to: Autism Empowerment, P.O. Box 871676, Vancouver, WA 98687.
  • Include your name and address if you want a receipt. We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Our Tax-ID # is 45-2455219.
  • Through PayPal Giving Fund: https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/50668
  • Check to see if your employer matches donations. (Many do!)

In Honor Of and In Memory Of Gifts

  • In Honor Of celebrates a friend or family member’s accomplishment or milestone event.
  • In Memory Of celebrates the life of a family member or friend who has passed away.
  • We can receive these financial or in-kind gifts through our website or by mail.
  • We will mail a special note to either the honoree or to a designated family member each time gifts are made in celebration.

Facebook Fundraisers

Planned Giving or Endowments (including gifts of stock or other financial instruments)

  • An endowed fund is a charitable gift established in perpetuity. The purpose is to help furnish a nonprofit organization with an income for their continuing support or maintenance.
  • Sometimes it is made in a person’s will and is part of a Planned Giving process. If someone out there is interested in including Autism Empowerment in an endowment or planned giving, please contact us at donations@autismempowerment.org and we will be happy to provide further details.

Vehicle Donations (running or not)

Give through Shopping

  • Amazon Smile program: http://smile.amazon.com/about - When shopping at smile.amazon.com, choose Autism Empowerment while shopping and we will receive 0.5% of your purchase price. ($100 = $.05 donation)
  • Buy something for Autism Empowerment at our Charity Wish List at Amazon 
  • Fred Meyer Community Rewards Program: A digital account is needed to participate. Simply link your Shopper’s Card to your account and choose Autism Empowerment - WA330. https://www.fredmeyer.com/i/community/community-rewards
  • Humble Bundle  They sell games, books, software and more at deeply discounted pricing where every purchase supports charity. Please choose Autism Empowerment as your designated charity.

eBay for Charity

Charity Choice 

Virtual Volunteering as a Social Media Ambassador

Fundraising Ambassador

  • Create your own FUNdraiser for us. Be creative, have fun!
  • Autism Empowerment Makes Cents (& Dollars Too) Penny Drive
  • Merchandise sales where Autism Empowerment gets a percentage.
  • Nominate our organization for a grant. (If we need to send in a grant application, we’re happy to check it out if you send the details to grants@autismempowerment.org)
  • Let us know your creative ideas!

In the future, we want to promote Virtual Volunteering opportunities in other ways but being an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities is something that you can do and be every day.

Thank you so much for your support and for being an Ambassador for Acceptance of All Abilities!

Full Transcript. Click below on words to play. 

There may be slight errors due to the way artificial intelligence interprets our voices. We've done some light editing. We hope this accommodation will be useful to you. Downloads are also available for free. Thank you so much for your support!

Transcript