Page 4 - Boca Exposure - October '19

Page 4, Boca Exposure

Autism Speaks Grant Makes Annual Festival For People With

Disabilities Even More Accessible To Those On The Spectrum

Nation’s Largest Family Fun

Day For People With Special

Needs Scheduled For March 1,
2020

The American Disabilities
Foundation, Inc., organizer
and host of the Annual
Boating and Beach
Bash for People with
Disabilities, was awarded
a $3,500 grant from
Autism Speaks, South
Florida chapter, to make its that will allow our guests to better enjoy the festival.” free, including an all-day concert, a barbecue lunch, boat
2020 event more accessible to those on the autism Bash guests on the autism spectrum are accommodated rides and dozens of attractions on the beach, in the park and
spectrum (ASD). with all-inclusive programming, parking/shuttles on the water. For many guests it is their most anticipated
The 2020 Boating and Beach Bash (www. throughout the park, food variety to meet special dietary outing of the year. Funding comes from national and local
boatingbeachbash.com) will be held Sunday, March 1, needs, adaptive equipment, sunscreen, accessible and sponsors, along with community support.
2020, at Spanish River Park in Boca Raton. In 2019, the family/caregiver-accessible restrooms, therapy animals, The Boating and Beach Bash for People with Disabilities
free, family-fun festival welcomed approximately 6,000 lifejackets, health resources, and beach access with is sponsored by the Rotary Club of Downtown Boca Raton,
guests for its 11th year. adaptive swim professionals. Royal Palm Yacht & Country Club, the Boca Raton Resort
With the Autism Speaks funding, the American “Everything about the Boating and Beach Bash is & Club, the Marine Industries Association of Palm Beach
Disabilities Foundation will add “quiet comfort/break” zones designed with the special needs community in mind. It County, Pepsico, Coldwell Banker, TD Bank, Douglas
to the festival site plan and provide “comfort supplies,” such is why this event is so popular, so embraced and so well- Elliman Realty, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Office
as ear plugs, sensory toys and sunglasses to guests. The grant received every year,” Van Vechten said. “With support Depot Foundation, Doubletree by Hilton Hotel Deerfield
will also allow for the purchase of developmental play items from organizations like Autism Speaks, we are able to Beach and more than a dozen foundations, including title
and crafts for the Bash’s Kids’ Zone. include more features for people who don’t normally sponsor Harcourt M. and Virginia W. Sylvester Foundation,
Additionally, the foundation will add a part-time get to experience a day on the beach, a boat ride on the Inc., The Schmidt Family Foundation, Inc., the E.M. Lynn
staff administrator, who will conduct volunteer training Intracoastal or musical performances by artists who look Foundation, Inc., the Landegger Family Charitable Trust,
related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and oversee and live like them.” the Listen Learn Care Foundation and numerous private
coordination of program recruitment and surveys with Presented annually by the American Disabilities donations. For more information about the Bash, write: The
nonprofits, parents’ groups and the medical community Foundation, the Boating and Beach Bash for People with American Disabilities Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 99, Boca
that serves ASD. Disabilities is held each March in Spanish River Park in Raton, FL 33429 or call (561) 715-2622. Visit us at www.
“We estimate that more than 40 percent of our festival Boca Raton. The unique park straddles the ocean on one boatingbeachbash.com, or follow the Bash on Facebook at
guests and program participants are autistic or families side and the Intracoastal Waterway on the other. The festival Boating and Beach Bash for People with Disabilities. To
of someone on the autism spectrum,” said American brings together children, teens, adults, seniors and wounded donate to the American Disabilities Foundation, Inc., write
Disabilities Foundation President Jay Van Vechten. “We warriors with every conceivable disability for an event to the ADF, P.O. Box 99, Boca Raton, FL 33429. Donations
are looking forward to adding elements and giveaways unlike any other in the nation. Everything at the Bash is can also be made via PayPal on the Bash website.