Spent a wonderful alfresco night at the benefit for Global Autism Project at 230 Fifth. The amazing Molly Ola Pinney founded the Global Autism Project in 2003. She traveled from Seattle to Ghana to continue caring for a young autistic boy whose family was moving there and were concerned about him receiving proper care. While caring for him, she learned of the many horrors that other children and families experience as knowledge of autism is often steeped in ridiculous superstitions. In addition, doctors trained and hospitals equipped to treat autism are scarce. (There are only 30 pediatricians in all of Ghana!)
The mission of the project is to a) address the needs of children and their families in developing countries where there is little knowledge of the condition and b) to create sustainable programs and partnerships with the communities and existing programs in these countries. With their next stop, India, the ultimate goal of the project is that autistic children have the same access to outstanding services in every country.
I was very impressed with this organization as I always admire people who start a cause without self-interest. None of the woman I met who work with the Global Autism Project have autistic children themselves. Rather they do this out of an inner goodness. They possess a passion about their cause as each lady we met made sure to hip us to what was going on with this important issue. (I was very grossed out at one point in the evening. Right when I was being told a horror story about how previously some autistic children were murdered because villagers thought they were possessed by demons, I could see the awful Vadim and a whole host of rampaging party crashers stuffing their faces with food! I mean, really! Have these losers no shame!)
Besides being dedicated, the staff of the Global Autism Project were really fun to spend an evening with. They hired two marvelous magicians, Matt Holzclaw and Prakash Puru (what apt names for wizards!) who were absolute marvels! Matt made my ring disappear before my eyes only to reappear connected to his keychain, which I still can’t figure out! As opposed to the normal party magicians who just travel around the room, Matt and Prakash actually hang with the other partygoers and create magical mayhem at the same time! They are quite simply perfect entertainment!
To find out how more about the Global Autism Project and what you can do go to their website: www.globalautismproject.org.
And to contact Matt and Prakash for your next soiree go to: www.theartificegroup.com.
