Buffalo is a small community. The neighboring towns and villages are even smaller. As the population in Buffalo dips a little more every year our city officials continue to search for ways to reverse that trend. Yes, there are advantages to a bigger city. But bigger, as we know, does not always equate to better. Western New York in all of its quaint glory is home to very few strangers. We all seem to know each other. Even if you don’t know the person, you probably know the face.

There’s a loyalty that comes with a small community. 
We should know. Every year when the Arts Work Exhibit rolls around, we knock on the same doors, asking for help. If you can spare a few dollars, great. Or maybe you have something of value to donate to the exhibit. That’s great too. Everything and everyone counts. That’s how it works in small towns. That’s how it works for small agencies like ours. We can’t afford not to be mindful of the families, friends and businesses that consistently respond to our request for help and support. Their support is the lifeline of our service.

Service is never benign. Every donation we receive, regardless of its size, compounds with the one’s that came before it. That’s how our agency continues to grow. It’s because of the people who make up small-town Buffalo. So this issue of “In Touch” places the spotlight on all those members of our small town who have supported our good work and made our fifth annual Arts Work Event a continued success. The late, great inventor George Washington Carver once quipped, “No individual has any right to come into the world and go out of it without leaving behind him distinct and legitimate reasons for having passed through it.” We’re proud to say for ourselves and our sponsors, that we are passing through this world, leaving a mark of service for others to follow.

SPONSORS:
ONY, Inc.
Parkview Health Services
Key Bank
Lawley Services, Inc.
Independent Health
Tower Foundation
Hodgson Russ, LLP
Dopkins & Company
We Care Transportation

SPONSORS:
(who donated items of value)
Try - It Distributing, Inc.
We Care Transportation
Wildflowers
Deltex Electric
Susan Copley
Catherine B. Parker
Trillium’s Courtyard
St. Joseph University
Jack & Baby Joe Mesi

The Guitar Center
Wehrle Golf Dome
Buffalo Picture Frame
Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel
Buffalo Philharmonic
Account Management Services
Niagara University
Applebee’s
Albright Knox Art Gallery
B. Foit-Albert & Joseph Cox
Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society
Baer & Associates
AAA of WNY 

Our Feature Artist this quarter is Dan C.  
You may recognize the style. Dan’s work graced the front and back cover for this year’s Arts Work program. His polarized use of color is not hard to notice. His method begins with enlarging a photo with an overhead projector and from there translating the image into an outline. After that, markers become his tool of choice as he colors away, filling in the sectioned areas. The results are a distant departure from the original photo, and speaks to a signature style that belongs solely to Dan.

We just wrapped up another successful year of our Arts Work program. For the fifth year in a row, our event has grown, allowing us to continue to provide quality services to the community. The emphasis on the Arts has always been the flagship at Autistic Services, so Arts Work has always been our most important fundraising event. It helps us continue to provide art instruction to our population. You’ve heard us say before that for many of our individuals the arts is the singular form of expression. What they won’t (or can’t) say in words they can say with shapes and colors. Truly it is an achievement for all involved to communicate in one of the purest natural language available. We’re proud to have you with us each year to celebrate the arts and autism, and we’re pleased to share with you our continued success.

 Net Profit: $36,416

For this issue of “In Touch” we decided to go with the theme of Service. It’s a fitting topic since three people in our community have decided to help serve the autism population by becoming members of our Board. We are very excited to welcome Kevin C. Wood, DDS, Elaine T. Stathopoulos, Ph.D. and LesleyLinda Lannan to our community. Dr. Wood is a native of Buffalo and has been practicing in WNY since 1983. He serves as an educator, trainer, and consultant to numerous local health care and community organizations. Elaine T. Stathopoulos, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Communicative Disorders and Sciences and Director of the Speech Science Laboratory at the University of Buffalo has been on the faculty at the university since 1979. Lastly, LesleyLinda Lannan serves as Vice President, specializing in Member Relationship Management and Business Intelligence for AAA Western and Central New York.

The ability to serve is very much like autism. It resides on a spectrum, with some of us having a minimal capacity and others having a very wide capacity. Our board members are true supporters, offering us strategic direction for growing our agency and our services. The collaborative input of many great minds is invaluable to bridging the gap between us and our neighboring communities. These supporters are spread across a range of lifestyles. Some of them are parents of a child with autism. Some are simply proactive in their desire to influence their community. All of them are professional people who have very demanding hours to keep, and yet have still answered the call to be of assistance to others.

We thank all of those who continue to help us serve our population. And we thank and welcome the new members to the growing autism community.

                                      

                                                Veronica Federiconi,
                                                 Executive Director