Families dealing with autism have a host of special challenges and expenses.
When one child has the condition, it affects the entire family — including brothers and sisters.
Those siblings often make sacrifices such as giving up free time to help with their brother or sister’s therapy, missing events with friends, and being understanding when their sibling requires more care and attention than they do.
Usually the focus isn’t on them.
(Courtesy of Becky Black)
But Sydney Has A Sister, a local nonprofit organization, puts its energies and efforts toward doing something for the other children in those families.
The organization, now in its second year, provides college money for high school students who have a sibling with autism.
The organization’s latest fundraiser will be a beer crawl on April 11.
The nonprofit began when Becky Black, a career specialist at Sunlake High School, was looking for scholarships for students with an autistic brother or sister. She didn’t find any, and began to daydream about starting one herself.
“I said ‘You know what I would do if I won the lottery? I would start a foundation, and I would give scholarships to students who have a sibling with autism,'” she recalled.
Her husband, Ernie, didn’t wait for a winning ticket. He did the heavy lifting to get Sydney Has A Sister off the ground, and now it’s a family project.
The name comes from the Black’s own family situation.
Sixteen-year-old Sydney Black has made a lot of sacrifices for her 15-year-old sister, Regan Black.
Regan’s autism makes communication a challenge, and that often leaves Sydney to help guide her sister when she doesn’t feel like cooperating with daily tasks like putting on clothes to leave the house.
“For her to get out of her pajamas, Sydney would be that voice of reason for Regan,” Black said.
Sydney also will take her sister to the movies and to eat at restaurants, keeping a close eye on her and looking out for those who might not understand her disability.
When they were younger, Sydney accepted that her sister might break a favorite toy or require more family attention.
Now, she’s very protective of Regan in public, and gives up her time and effort without complaint.
While there are sacrifices, Black has come to realize that the challenges have also forged close bonds between the sisters that surpassed what she thought was possible when her daughter was diagnosed with autism.
“For many years I thought that my kids will never have a typical sibling relationship that I had with my sisters,” Black said. “I realize now that my daughters are probably closer in that way than my sisters and I actually were.”
The entire family has gotten closer by putting in a lot of effort to make Sydney Has A Sister a productive organization.
Last year, they set a goal of providing three $1,000 scholarships to students, and ended up doubling that number. Including smaller donations to schools that have special education programs, Sydney Has A Sister gave out $7,000 last year, and they want to double it in 2015.
They keep a busy fundraising schedule, with a golf scramble, silent auction and wine tasting bringing in money last year. Now they’re adding the beer crawl during Autism Awareness Month, and hope to see 250 participants to raise $4,000 or more from the event.
While a $1,000 scholarship isn’t life-changing for a student, families with an autistic child bear a great deal of out-of-pocket expenses, so extra college money helps. And more than just the dollar amount, Black said the scholarship is about acknowledging the special efforts they make for their family that most people don’t see.
“If it’s just something to recognize their love and compassion and the sacrifices for their sibling, to me, that’s very rewarding,” Black said.
Beer crawl for autism
Sydney Has a Sister, a nonprofit foundation that provides scholarships to college-bound students with an autistic sibling, will host a Beer Crawl April 11 at World of Beer, 402 S. Howard Ave., in Tampa. Check-in is 3 p.m., followed by the crawl at 4 p.m.
The event is for ages 21 and older. The cost is $25 per person and includes a T-shirt, one free beer at each stop, and drink specials and entrance to the after-party at MacDinton’s Irish Pub at 7 p.m.
To register online, visit SydneyHasASister.com, and click on ‘Events.’
Published April 8, 2015
