{"id":33560,"date":"2015-03-30T03:25:58","date_gmt":"2015-03-30T07:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=33560"},"modified":"2015-03-29T17:51:30","modified_gmt":"2015-03-29T21:51:30","slug":"ut-sorority-promotes-autism-awareness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/03_30_2015\/ut-sorority-promotes-autism-awareness","title":{"rendered":"UT sorority promotes autism awareness"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the Tokyo Tower and the Prince\u2019s Palace of Monaco, to the Christ the Redeemer statue and The University of Toledo\u2019s bell tower \u2014 national landmarks around the globe will be bathed in blue light for autism awareness. <\/p>\n

\"AS_10<\/a>World Autism Awareness Day is celebrated every year April 2. The event was adopted by the United Nations in 2007 to shine a light on autism as a growing global health crisis. On this day, Autism Speaks, the world\u2019s leading autism advocacy organization, celebrates its Light It Up Blue campaign by organizing thousands of buildings worldwide to shine blue lights for autism awareness. <\/p>\n

The Alpha Xi Delta sorority, whose philanthropy is Autism Speaks, will bring the campaign to UT this April for the second time. <\/p>\n

\u201cAutism is kind of my life,\u201d said Jennifer Huffman, the sorority\u2019s programs vice president. \u201cThat\u2019s how I picked my major in occupational therapy. My brother has autism, and I\u2019ve seen personally what it does to people and how it affects people.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s celebration will include information tables in the Student Union Tuesday, March 31, Wednesday, April 1, and Thursday, April 2, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. On Thursday there will be a \u201ckissing booth\u201d where members of the sorority will pass out free Hershey kisses with facts about autism on them, Light It Up Blue wristbands, and save-the-date cards for the sorority\u2019s philanthropy dinner later in April. Puzzle piece cookies and other bake goods also will be sold Thursday. All proceeds go toward Autism Speaks. <\/p>\n

At sundown, the sorority will host a ceremony during which University Hall will join numerous other world landmarks in lighting up blue for autism. Every night the following week, the tower will light up. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe money we raised for our philanthropy helped my family specifically, so I just want to pass that on to other people,\u201d Huffman said. <\/p>\n

Started in 2005, Autism Speaks raises awareness about the disorder, advocates for the needs of individuals with autism and their families, and funds research into the causes, prevention, treatments and cure for autism. <\/p>\n

To learn more about the campaign, contact Huffman at jennifer.huffman2@rockets.utoledo.edu<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UT’s iconic bell tower will Light It Up Blue as Alpha Xi Delta sorority works to raise awareness of World Autism Awareness Day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":708,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/708"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33560\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}