Request for Help - Hiram Farm Living & Learning Community for Autistic Men & Women

[Guest guest]

Please read below and take a couple of minutes to vote! Thanks, Barb

Barbara Rutt, S.W.A., Parent Training Coordinator

OCECD-Cleveland Office

440-617-9544 - Office

440-617-9547 - Fax

800-694-6402 - Toll Free

ocecdbr@...

www.ocecd.org

"If you treat an individual as he is, that is all he

will ever be. Only if you treat him as he ought to

be, will he ever have a chance to become what he

ought and could." -anonymous

Gus,

Per our conversation last night, I am writing this email to you to ask for your assistance for the next 20 days to help out a great cause. I am not asking for money, but just about two minutes a day for the remainder of the month of June to help my brother's cause for helping autistic men and women. I was hoping maybe you could pass it along to all your associates and members of the Autism Chapter.For those of you that do not know my older brother Andy Krcmar, let me tell you a little about him. Andy and his wife Pam reside in Garrettsville, Ohio. For the past 20 + years, give or take, my brother has taught and cared for behaviorally handicapped children. From Camp Cheerful to Parmadale to Cleveland and Ravenna Public Schools, he has worked and cared for some of the most difficult

children you can imagine. During all this time, he has also taken on the additional chore of caring for four (4) behaviorally children at his home, with one being autistic. He has committed his efforts 24/7 for the betterment of these children.After leaving the Ravenna School system a couple of years ago, he and his wife made a commitment to own and operate group homes in Portage County to serve more children and young adults. This includes hiring and training employees, writing all the behavioral programs, following all the state guidelines with regards to use of medication and training and the list goes on. He now runs four group homes with thirteen clients and 50 employees. They are first

on the call list when another child needs placement in Portage County as they have built a solid reputation of caring for these young men and women. If that is not enough, he became the CEO for a new therapuetic working farm in Hiram, Ohio for the autistic. This is where my request comes in.The Hiram Farm Living and Learning Community was born about a year or so ago. It is a working farm with gardens and animals for autistic men and women to attend and do meaningful work that does wonders for their self esteem and sense of worth. On the website link below, there is a you tube video that explains more on the actual farm. The farm currently does not have an onsite office/gathering place for the clients and staff to get out of the elements as well as having an indoor restroom. Pepsi has come up with a program to donate money to worthy causes. Once a charity/group submits a request and gets accepted, they are placed on the ballot with about 50 other groups and the public votes for the causes. The top ten vote getters receive the donation. The Hiram Farm was accepted and put on the ballot for $50,000.00 donation to be used to build this office/building for the farm. They now need votes and this is where I am asking for your help. Each person is permitted to vote once per day through June 30th of this month. In the email below, you will find a link that will put you on the Pepsi website with the Hiram Farm request on it. All you

need to do is log on and then vote for them. Save the page as a bookmark, and vote each day. Feel free to listen to the you tube link that will describe a little more about the actual farm, but the important thing is to vote. If each of you could take two minutes or less a day to vote, my brother, his wife and I would greatly appreciate it. The work he and his wife have done over the last twenty plus years personify the motto "We Serve" and I ask each of you to participate to help their cause.Thanks for listening and please vote. The website link is : http://www.refresheverything.com/hiramfarm Krcmar