World Autism Awareness Day

Today is World Autism Awareness Day.

Autism Speaks was our Tuesdays Child Foundation charity for 2007. We will be continuing to donate 50% of the proceeds to Autism Speaks from the sale of two of our products:

Pieces of the Puzzle Stamp Set

FUNdamental Pieces Technique Tiles

To Autism Speaks through the month of April 2008.

A note from our owner Bev Grey:

In 2007, our Tuesday’s Child efforts were focused on autism. I've seen our creative director, Eileen Collins, search for answers, challenge the status quo, and share quiet moments of joy with her son
who has autism. Through her, I learned that autism affects 1 in every 150 children. It is more common than pediatric cancer, diabetes, and AIDS combined. There is no known cause or cure for autism. Based on these statistics and the impact that Eileen and her son have had on me, I decided to try to help change the future of children and families who are affected by autism by focusing our first Tuesday’s Child program on autism.

In April of 2007, we released two products—a stamp set called Pieces of the Puzzle, and a set of 12x12-inch Technique Tiles called FUNdamental Pieces—in support of autism awareness. Although we designed these products to include some images and words associated with autism, these products were also intended to appeal to those who may not even know what autism is.

We asked our customers to join us in this fight by sharing their stories about how autism had impacted their lives, by supporting a friend who has a child with autism, by raising awareness in their communities, by donating directly to a charity of their choice, or by purchasing these two Technique Tuesday products. We have been thrilled with the response.

Numerous scrapbookers sent layouts to us that we highlighted during 2007 in a gallery on our website. People from all over the world called us, wrote email, and tracked us down at scrapbook conventions to tell us about how autism has touched their lives. A number of our wholesale customers had fund raisers in their stores or events to promote autism awareness. The response has been astounding. We are also thrilled that we were able to donate thousands of dollars to Autism Speaks so far and we’re not done yet. We will continue our commitment to this cause through April (Autism Awareness Month) 2008.