Our son Jacob had his 5th birthday this August. Shortly before his 2nd birthday, Jake was diagnosed with autism. Since then, of course we have done everything that we can to help this guy out. Jake has made a lot of progress thanks to intensive A.B.A. therapy and other services.

Autism is clearly a serious problem. The diagnosis rate continues to increase. The idea that 1 in 250 children born today will be diagnosed autistic is becoming a conservative statement. Some think the number is higher. Further, the cause is not clear and there is no cure. I promise you that for families and friends of autistics this is a difficult situation.

The National Alliance For Autism Research funds global biomedical research accelerating the discovery of the causes, prevention, effective treatments and cure for autism spectrum disorders and to educate the public on the critical role research plays in achieving these goals. The annual Walk F.A.R. for N.A.A.R. is the signature fund raising event for N.A.A.R. This year will be the 3rd year for the walk here in St. Louis.

The 2005 walk is Saturday October 15th in Forest Park here in St. Louis. The walk really is a great time. In addition to the walk itself there are lots of festivities around including clowns, jugglers, face painters, blow up rides for the kids and other fun stuff. All of the food, drinks, entertainment and activities for the kids are all provided by sponsors so there is no cost for any of that on the day of the walk. The whole thing is very family friendly. I hope you will consider coming out and joining us for the afternoon. I believe you will be glad that you did.

If you want to participate in the walk by joining Team Jacob you can do so by visiting our team page at www.autismwalk.org. Alternatively you can contact one of us at betsy@jeffandbetsy.net or jeff@jeffandbetsy.net and we can get you signed up. If you sign up, please sign up each person who will be walking individually (including the kids). This helps the N.A.A.R. folks with their planning.

If you can't participate in the walk, please consider writing a tax deductible check payable to N.A.A.R. to sponsor our walk. Your contribution is helping a fantastic cause. Last year Team Jacob was in the top 25 of fund raisers. If you can't join us for the walk but would like to sponsor our team contact one of us at betsy@jeffandbetsy.net or jeff@jeffandbetsy.net.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about any of this.

Thanks for your time and I look forward to seeing you soon.