Warwick ShopRite raises funds for autism awareness
WARWICK On Saturday, April 7, Warwick ShopRite held an all day tailgate barbecue featuring food and refreshments, music, face painting and games.
The Warwick store along with other ShopRite supermarkets had partnered with Autism Speaks, the worlds leading autism science and advocacy organization, to raise funds and awareness to this disorder that effects one in every 110 American children.
The final tally is not available at this time but last year Westchester ShopRite stores alone raised $22,000. This year, Warwick ShopRite participated for the first time with all the ShopRite stores in the Hudson Valley.
The Autism Speaks fund-raising theme was, Light it Up Blue, and shopper advocates Cortney Wright and Michelle Laurice, who organized the local event, had the support of Warwick businesses and organizations.
Leo Kaytes Ford, for example, provided several blue vehicles for the tailgate party. And the Warwick Football Club members volunteered to bag groceries and generally support the event. In addition to funds raised at the barbecue, donations were also collected at the stores checkout stations.
Light It Up Blue, in its third year, is a unique global initiative to help raise awareness about the growing public health concern that is autism.
Autism Speaks is dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families.
We would like to thank the entire community for its generous support, said Warwick ShopRite Store Director Bob Courtenay. And we are thankful we could do our part to help Autism Speaks increase awareness about autism.