OFF TOPIC -- a little good news!

[Guest guest]

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, we have been searching for a site for The Mariposa School

for Children with Autism since our original location, which was to be a

sublease, fell through last summer when the people we were going to sublease

from lost their lease.

Since that time, we have looked at 10 other sites, all of which fell through for

one reason or another. We came very close to opening in a site on time in

September when we had plans to rent space from a local church, but that fell

through on the Friday before we were to open up. (Apparently some of the major

contributors to the church were " worried " about our population.) Then we had

difficulty with zoning and building codes on various other sites ... In the

meantime, since we have a 1:1 teacher/student ratio, we went ahead and started

last September by having our teachers drive to the students' homes. This

worked, but it was difficult on all of us to be driving all over every day, and

rarely being in the same place at the same time.

Just before Christmas we had located a site and had made arrangements to

purchase it with no down payment and some creative financing. But with the

untimely death of my husband, this opportunity also fell through.

Today I'm happy to tell you that with perseverance, we were able to arrange a

lease at the same site. I signed the lease today, and finally have a key to a

property which will be ours to set up the way we need it, without having to

worry about sharing the space with others. We will have about 2500 sq ft to

start out with (with a possibility to take a second building later on) and a

fabulous outdoor playground.

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everybody who made contributions to

our school in memory of my husband, Mark. Every one of your contributions is

very much appreciated -- no matter what size. Without these donations, we would

not have been able to come up with the up front cash that was necessary in order

to pull this off. (The building is somewhat old, and needs some TLC before we

can move in. And of course, as I'm discovering, there are all sorts of hidden

expenses --deposits, services etc. -- that must be taken care of as well.)

I am so very grateful to my friends in the autism community for supporting us.

When Mark died, I was so afraid our vision and our school would die also.

Instead, through your help, we are going to be able to move forward. Kenny will

finally be able to attend a school with other children, where he will get an

appropriate education. (And so will many other children as well!)

I find myself searching for the right words to convey to all of you how

privileged I feel to be a member of this community. I've received a shoebox

full of cards, and hundreds of emails from all of you expressing your support,

and it has really meant a lot to me. I've written back to some of you, and hope

to get back to everybody at some point in time. These last couple of months

have been full of new challenges for me as I try to juggle my life and

additional responsibilities. (And wouldn't you know it, it seems that

everything at my house is breaking right now, too!) I am fortunate to have some

wonderful friends here to give me some day to day support, as well as my

internet family to give me moral support. This is indeed a challenge I never

anticipated, but I feel certain we will make it with the help of our friends.

Thank you for helping to keep a dream alive, and reminding me that I'm really

not alone.

s (Cary, NC)

persistentC@...

President, The Mariposa School for Children with Autism

http://www.rtphome.org/mariposa/