2nd annual Family Fun Day gearing up
An organization in the Copper Country that helps families with autistic children is gearing up for their second annual Family Fun Day. ABC Ten’s Keweenaw Bureau Reporter Rick Allen has the details.
Copper Country Autism Awareness has been helping families with autistic children for a year now. The organization puts on family-friendly events like the Winter Fun Day, a Child-Free Shopping Day at Christmas, and the upcoming 2nd annual Family Fun Day.
Co-Founder, Copper Country Autism Awareness Michael Gilles says, “It’s for entire families. So this is an opportunity for any family that has a child that comes in on the autism disorder spectrum to come with the entire family and have just a wonderful, fun afternoon.”
The event is free, thanks in part to a $2,000 grant from the Copper Country Elks.Family Fun Day is on Saturday, September 21st from 1:00 to 4:00pm at the Houghton Elementary School. In the meantime, the organization is looking for volunteers.
Gillis added, “It takes quite a bit of staff to man all the booths and all the games. That’s probably our main need right now is volunteers.”
As grandparents of an autistic child, the founders of Copper Country Autism Awareness can see the impact they have had already on families.
“It’s been very rewarding to see—especially the Family Fun Day event last year was just tremendous. We had parents come up to us and tell us that’s the first time they’d seen their child smile in months and that kind of thing is just tremendously rewarding,” Gillis said.