Operation Jack

Fighting autism, one mile at a time.

Elf On A Shelf: Autism Edition

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OK, we have this “Elf On A Shelf” thing for my daughter Ava. I had never heard of it before this year, but apparently every mom in America had. I guess it’s a fun pre-Santa thing for kids and you move it around when they’re not looking and tell your kids that the Elf on a Shelf is telling Santa if they’re being naughty or nice?

So my wife Tiffany is creative with where and how she sets up Jolly (the name Ava picked for her Elf on a Shelf). Here were some of the ways Tiff him up:

(But first, my quick little reminder I always throw in … if you’ve never been here and/or you don’t know what Operation Jack is, click here … hint: My foundation and the Operation Jack Marathon have raised ~$160K in the past three years.)

Jolly doing snow flour angels.

 

Jolly made a toilet-paper ride to go down the stairs.
Jolly working out, bench-pressing marshmallows.
Jolly has a drinking problem.

But Tiff decided yesterday that Jolly could do autism things, too. It’s not that we’re making fun of what Jack does, but heck, for what Tiff goes through 24/7/365 taking care of Jack, she’s earned the right to bring a little levity to the disaster autism has created within the walls of our home. If any of you are autism parents, these are all very familiar to you:

Jolly stimming on a train.
Jolly stimming on alphabet blocks.
Jolly’s on a GFCF diet, of course.
Jolly is recording a random video on an iPhone that he’s going to watch over and over and over and over again.
Mmmmm … supplements …

That’s all … hope you’re not offended. If you are, you have to realize that these silly pictures sum up our existence and it’s therapeutic laughter for us to take these. If you’re in the same boat as us, I hope these brought a smile to your face to know that you’re not alone.

Have a great Monday, y’all. Go check out the Operation Jack Marathon!

Nov. 8: Still No School For Jack To Go To

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If you’ve been following my blog lately, you know we’re fighting like mad to get Jack in school. If you’ve never been here, then I need to do my quick standard introduction.

Jack is my 9-year-old son. He’s severely autistic. Still in diapers. Operation Jack, the name of this site, is also the name of the foundation I created to try to make the world a better place to make some good out of what he goes through. PLEASE CLICK HERE and see how we’ve brought in about $150K in the past three years through Operation Jack and the Operation Jack Marathon.

Jack likes to elope, which means he likes to run away when he gets the chance. He’s a danger to himself. We have a handicap parking placard because he’s a danger to himself in and near parking lots. And he’s currently assigned to a school named Ryan that has a playground that’s unfenced and attached to a parking lot that flows into a fairly busy street.

The school is about 6 miles away from our house and we feel completely unsafe with him there. My wife and I would be sick to our stomachs dropping him off every day. He started there September 26, and we never left him without either my wife or members of his home therapy team, but we just didn’t feel safe with him there. So we pulled him after he attended on September 28. I don’t know who puts an program for children with low-functioning autism at a school with an unfenced playground — 49 percent of children with autism attempt to elope. Actually, the district’s chief academic officer told me the school meets the school district’s definition of a true autism program, but that’s a conversation for another day.

We wanted him back at Kohl, where he would be safe and where the district was going to assign him a 1-on-1 para-professional they were hiring specifically for him, but we had to go through an administrative transfer process. The principal would sign the form and Jack would be in a safe school. But the principal wouldn’t sign the form. She said that despite the fact that we were begging and pleading to let Jack back in Kohl, she said we said we were unhappy with their programming and wanted a true autistic program.

She never would give me an on-the-record meeting to answer questions about her decision and she never would answer why she was putting so much weight into Tiff’s alleged request in August while dismissing what Tiff begged for in October. The assistant superintendent who signed off on that decision cited the same thing about what my wife said, although he never talked to either of us before making his decision. He also wouldn’t give us an on-the-record meeting.

We appealed to the district’s chief academic officer and lost that appeal. I wasn’t surprised. I won’t waste a lot of time getting into the details of that meeting, but a lot of what she said made me think she really didn’t have a lot of insight into the situation because of contradictions with timelines and what other people have said on audio. For instance, when I asked her why Jack was allowed to start the school year at Kohl but not allowed to return, she said, “the more the staff at Kohl got to know Jack, the more they realized Tiffany was right.” The funny thing is, Jack never actually attended Kohl after May. And Tiffany made her alleged comments in August*.

* I’ve asked five people for written documentation or audio of what Tiff’s actual request was, but nobody has provided it to me.

All of our appeals have been denied, and we were told by the assistant superintendent that the Kohl staff feels “slighted” by us and the chief academic officer said the principal at Kohl said she’s “done with us,” so it sure does seem like they’re unhappy with what my wife said. I’m not going to post the audio of what went down in August yet, but it reasonable for an IEP — Tiffany was upset that she removed the behavior plan from his IEP considering Jack has serious target behaviors! But heck, if you’re not gonna let Jack back in school because you have a beef with his mom, stand up and say so!

I love these two people more than words can describe in a caption.

So anyways, we had to go through some rigorous IEP meetings. That’s where you go through and decide what is appropriate for the student. At a meeting on October 31, the IEP team agreed that he needed to be on a playground that was surrounded by a fence with minimal openings. Then on Tuesday (November 6), the IEP team agreed that it was appropriate for Jack to be on the grade-level playground for his recesses. It’s not appropriate for him to be on a pre-K playground, which was the initial solution.

These are both true, and this is what we’ve been saying all along, and at least we’re finally documenting it through the process. The IEP is not school-specific and if a school can’t meet the student’s needs, then the student can be transferred and that’s independent of the administrative transfer process we were going through.

So FINALLY! The IEP will get Jack in a safe school! But a funny thing happened. The IEP team REMOVED THE PORTION SAYING JACK NEEDS TO BE ON A PLAYGROUND THAT’S FENCED IN!

Now, here are a few things that were covered in the meeting:
– The teacher at Ryan said he elopes inside.
– The teacher at Kohl said Jack elopes inside.
– We had a letter from Jack’s teacher from September 2010 through March 2012 who stated Jack elopes inside and outside.
– The teacher at Ryan said Jack likes to run when he gets outside.
– Jack has a handicap parking placard because doctors think he’s such a danger to elope that holding his parent’s hand while walking through a parking lot is too much of a danger for him.
– BUT, the teacher at Kohl, who seems to have a definite interest in Jack staying assigned to Ryan, said that Jack doesn’t elope on the playground.

Apparently, despite years of eloping outside, starting in March, when he gets outside on a playground (but not anywhere else outside), he doesn’t like to run! And he still likes to run outside, but we’re not really sure if he’s going to elope again so we have to see if he’s going to elope again. Yeah, that makes sense.

So, despite everything else, and solely because the teacher at Kohl said Jack doesn’t elope on the playground, the team pulled the part about the fence out of the IEP!

There were eight educators in there. I asked a hypothetical question, “How many of you would be willing to sign a contract saying you’d give $100K to a trust fund for Jack, quit your job and never again work in education if he eloped from the playground at Ryan and got injured?” There were zero hands in the air. Of course nobody would put their career where their mouth was, but they expected us to put our son’s life where their mouth was.

Despite my objections, they pulled it out. I told them how disgusted I was that they were doing that to fit an agenda. My wife lost it. Here’s an audio clip. PLEASE SPEND 2:17 TO LISTEN TO THIS. IT’S CRITICAL.

The principal and the teacher were right there and heard this. And despite this, they still won’t let Jack in Kohl. About a minute or so after this, the teacher got catty and passive-aggressive with my wife and basically started telling her it was her fault for what she said in August. That made me even more certain that this is all because of something personal the teacher has against my wife.

My wife was so upset and hysterical. When she gets upset, I get even more upset. I don’t like seeing her cry. And I hate when my little Jack gets wronged and he sits there innocently, regressing, not even know how his future is being harmed.

We’ve tried everything. We’ve fought through so many appeals it’s killing us. We wasted money on an advocate who got us nowhere. We spent money on a consultation with a lawyer and wanted to retain him, but he never followed up so we’re trying like mad in the midst of all of this to find another one.

But on the car ride home from the meeting, Tiff was still hysterical. She was so upset. She can’t take what this process is doing to her any more. She can’t take what it’s doing to Jack and to her and to me and to our other two kids. It’s killing us.

I’m a protective husband and father and I’m coming out swinging. I’m not going to let one teacher ruin my wife’s Colorado dream. Ironically, a big part of why she wanted to move here is for some peace to counter the stress Jack’s autism brings to us. She loves it here and she’s not going to be chased away. I will defend my wife until my final day.

I want to launch a social media campaign. I want to try to tap into every connection I have to spread the word about this. It’s my last resort. I want to use everything I learned about social media during my Operation Jack year to try to fight this war.

I was so furious and upset about how upset Tiff was. She went upstairs when we got home to cry herself to sleep. She doesn’t deserve this. She’s an amazing mom who fights for her disabled child and what is right for him. Every child should be so lucky to have a mom like her.

So I went on Facebook:

I went on Twitter.

I communicated with a few folks on Twitter.

People were reaching out.

And I specifically called out the teacher. Operation Jack 2.0, if social media/media warfare is my last option, then that’s what it’s going to be. As any of you who have been around since I was running all those races in 2010 know, I don’t set small goals. And I love my family.

Kind of out of character for me to go with profanity there, but when my wife is upset, I’m upset. Hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have tweeted that. But this whole thing is so ridiculous, all stemming from denying my autistic son into school over a beef with his mama. There’s no good reason Jack can’t be back in a safe school instead of sitting at home and they’ve fought this so hard the whole way. This is how this has snowballed.

Yesterday, I got a call from the principal at Kohl who said me and Tiff aren’t allowed into the building at Kohl any more. She said Cathy (the teacher) fears for her safety and if I’m going to be threatening her on Twitter, we’re not allowed in her building. Our second-grade daughter goes to school there, so I guess we’ll drop her off and pick her up outside until this is resolved.

Now, I don’t really think they feared for her safety. I’m not a violent person. Haven’t been in a fight since the 8th grade. And if you look at my timeline (which they obviously did), it’s very clear that I was talking about social media warfare. The police haven’t contacted me. Nothing has been filed against me in court.

It seems like just like with Jack’s situation there, there’s no regard for reality or truth or process in my situation.

Something that clued me that safety isn’t really the concern was that when the principal was talking to me on the phone yesterday she told me she wasn’t going to let me back in until I stopped making social media attacks against the teacher. That’s the real issue.

Now, somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t comments on social media protected by the first amendment? There are limits, such as libel. But the initial reason for the first amendment was to make sure that you always have the right to speak out against the government if you think it’s acting unjustly. That’s what’s going on here. And I’m not going to sit idly by and let a principal attempt to suppress my first amendment rights as I fight what her school is doing to my disabled son.

So, if you’ve gotten all the way down here, PLEASE do me a favor. I really, really need you to help me pass this around. Facebook, Twitter, please share it! I have a meeting today with the superintendent and I’m confident we’re going to get this resolved. But just in case, if you’re interested in helping Jack get in school, leave a comment or drop me an email at sam@operationjack.org. PLEASE share this on Facebook and Twitter. I need as many eyes as possible. Maybe the right special-needs lawyer will see it. Or maybe the right first-amendment lawyer will see it.

Oh, and pray for my Grandpa Milton. He’s probably my favorite person in the world and he’s not doing well. I love him to death and worrying about him right now makes this stuff with Jack seem like child’s play.

That’s all I have for today. Have a nice weekend …[subscribe2]

November 1: Still No School For Jack

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I probably sound like a broken record complaining about my son Jack not being in school, but that’s completely dominating and destroying my life right now, so I don’t have a whole lot else to talk about it. NOTE: There are some new developments in this … scroll down to where it says “New Developments” if you know the story and are in a hurry.

Real quick backdrop: If you’ve never been here, click here to see what Operation Jack is. Jack is my 9-year-old son. He’s severely autistic, not really talking, still in diapers. I started a charity in his name because I wanted his struggles to be for at least some good. So click that link if you’ve never been here before and see how we’ve raised somewhere in the $150K range since 2009.

OK, I have a couple of previous blogs about his school problem:
– School Appeal Denied
– Why We Can’t Get Jack In School

Anyways, we had an IEP meeting yesterday. Well, I thought it was an IEP meeting, which is why I took time off of work. An IEP is basically Jack’s contract of what he’s entitled to. For special-needs children, it’s critical. He won’t get anything that’s not in there and school districts fight putting things in there because it costs them money. The goal is to find the happy balance, otherwise it ends up in court.

The crux of our problem is the unsafe playground at the school he’s assigned to, Ryan Elementary. It’s unfenced and attached to a parking lot that flows into a busy street. Jack elopes, which means he darts and runs away. He’s smart and looks for the right moment and moves quick. I feel like a bad dad saying this, but he got away from me about five times last night.

He was on a couch in the back of our house watching a movie and playing on his iPad. I was on a couch in the front of our house, waiting for trick-or-treaters. I kid you not, about five times, he just darted, right in front of me. I was up and chased him, but he got about 8 more feet and out the screen door in the front of the house. I was pretty close behind him, but he still got out the door, across our front yard and about 50 feet up the cul-de-sac we live on.

We’re on a very quiet street so he was safe and he never got away from me, but still. I can run fast. For him to dart and get past me like that — he can move. He has no regard for where he is. That’s why we’ve had a handicap parking placard for him for more than four years now. Doctors who know him and have treated him since he was a newborn know he’s enough of a threat in and near parking lots and streets that holding his parent’s hand isn’t safe enough. He’s a danger to himself.

But apparently, the Boulder Valley School District disagrees and thinks that unenclosed playground is safe. Well, I don’t know that the playground is safe, but that’s their story and they’re sticking to it.

We tried to get him back into the school he previously attended, Kohl Elementary, which is where his sister attends and it has a safe playground. But he got denied.

New Developments

We applied for an administrative transfer, and that was denied. The principal at Kohl said the reason was that my wife Tiffany wants Jack in a different program, but TIFFANY SAID SHE WANTS JACK AT KOHL. The assistant superintendent told me it’s because Tiffany wants Jack in a different program, but HE NEVER TALKED TO TIFFANY AND TIFFANY SAID SHE WANTS JACK AT KOHL.

Last Wednesday, I met with BVSD’s Chief Academic Officer to discuss her denial of my appeal. She said that even though we, as parents, had concerns for Jack’s safety, we did not have legitimate concerns for Jack’s safety at Ryan Elementary. SO GLAD AN ADMINISTRATOR WHO NEVER MET MY SON KNOWS HIM BETTER THAN US!

We’ve held him out of school since September 28 for one reason: we are incredibly afraid of his safety. We truly believe there is a chance of a fatal incident with the setup of that school. That’s the ONLY reason we’re holding him out. We want him in school.

I’ve got his back.

So anyways, the principal at Kohl wouldn’t grant me a face-to-face meeting to answer my questions and eventually stopped answering my emails when I asked her, very simply, “Other than what Tiffany said, are there any reasons you believe Kohl can not accommodate Jack?”

The assistant superintendent dodged my questions, wouldn’t meet with me to explain his decision, then eventually stopped answering my questions when (I suspect) he realized I had him pinned and realized what they were up to.

This part is important: The chief academic officer kept trying to sell me on the virtues of Ryan during our meeting and couldn’t answer my questions. I told her to stop talking about Ryan — let’s talk about Kohl! She told me in a previous email that Kohl didn’t have the support staff to handle Jack. I asked her in that meeting what support staff Kohl had that couldn’t support Jack. She didn’t know. But she said she would get back to me. She promised me she would give the answers in an email. She promised me her explanation would be about Kohl, not Ryan.

WRONG! Her explanation was all about Ryan, not about Kohl. I thanked her for not keeping her word. But you know, I suspect they’re all covering up something and it’s not the toughest thing to figure out.

The actual teacher at Kohl seemed to get upset with Tiffany during a moderately contentious IEP. That’s just part of the deal when you’re a special education teacher. The assistant superintendent told me the staff at Kohl felt “SLIGHTED” by my wife. The chief academic officer basically said that the teacher doesn’t want to deal with us. And in all of this, the teacher never once answered the simple question I repeatedly asked her: “Would you take Jack back into your class?”

Is this whole denial resting on the shoulders of the teacher? I’d love to know, but she’s been shielded from me three levels up the ladder. I think it’s a shame if that’s the case, if Jack is losing because somebody has a beef with my wife. But I don’t see anything that points in any other direction at this point.

I’ve made it very, very clear to everybody in this situation, especially the chief academic officer in my meeting with her.

JACK IS NOT GOING BACK TO RYAN.

I told her I thought it was shameful that as an educator, knowing we weren’t sending him to school because we were concerned about his safety, that she still wouldn’t approve his transfer to Kohl. She blamed it on me, telling me it was my fault since I was making the decision to not send him to Ryan.

I guess they don’t really care no matter how loud I yell … I DON’T WANT A DEAD KID!

So me and Tiff had an IEP meeting yesterday with the staff at Ryan and the district’s assistant director of special education with the sole purpose of formalizing his safety plan. I wanted two very simple things for Jack, that I feel are appropriate:

– A grade-level playground surrounded by a fence or a wall that’s at least 5 feet tall
– No openings in that fence wider than 10 feet

Reasonable? Appropriate? Putting those in his IEP is the most solid way to get him assigned to somewhere other than Ryan. Really, it’s not so much getting him away from Ryan as much as it is making sure he’s in a safe environment. The safe environment is really what this is all about. Those two demands are appropriate for Jack, and they’re what he needs. Having that on paper eliminates Ryan and helps us move on and get him in school. Until Ryan can’t meet the IEP, he can’t be moved unless an administrative transfer is granted (that’s why we wanted him in Kohl).

How can anybody possibly say that Jack doesn’t deserve a safe environment like that? So we had that meeting yesterday to get it taken care of.

The fence, no problem. They agreed.

But they wouldn’t say “grade-level playground” or “age-level playground” in the wording. They insisted on “physically appropriate equipment” instead. They want something very subjective like that so they can stick him on the fenced-in pre-K playground at Ryan. We want him to be able to spend his recess playing on equipment he’d like. DON’T PUNISH MY SON BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE AUTISM PROGRAM AT A TERRIBLE LOCATION!

And they wouldn’t agree to 10 feet for the openings. They insisted on “minimal openings” instead. Because, you know, subjective measurements work better, I guess. They said it’s because 10 feet is an arbitrary number and may not be appropriate. I invited them to find anybody who works for the district to come up with a number. That number might very well be acceptable for us! That invitation was refused, though. They won’t come up with a number until they have a chance to observe Jack on the playground.

YES, LET’S SEE HOW EASY IT IS FOR JACK TO RUN AWAY FROM AN UNFENCED PLAYGROUND BEFORE WE DECIDE HOW MUCH SPACE HE NEEDS TO ESCAPE.

I made it very clear that I disagreed with this and I’m not going to agree to their wordings. I told them that if they don’t budge, a judge is going to decide who’s right.

It’s just a shame that here we are, November 1, and we don’t truly have a school for my son. And it’s going to cost us a lot of money fighting through the system to get it done. It’s also going to take a lot of time. I wouldn’t be surprised if I found out the district is happy he’s not in school because they don’t have to deal with him. If I had to bet, I’m thinking maybe he’ll be in school in March. A critical year of his life, absolutely wasted. And it kills me to try to guess why this is all really happening. As of now, I have no confidence that I’ve been given the straight story.

So that’s all. Thanks for reading. What do you think is going on? What do you think we should do? Are we overreacting? Share this with your friends on Facebook and Twitter … we’re going to need an army to get Jack in school! Have a good weekend … see you back here on Monday or Tuesday.

How Autism Sucked Yesterday

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I always wonder what the best approach to take is for my blog. Do I talk about autism, since that consumes my world and is the reason for this site? Do I talk about running, since I’ve done a lot of that and have a background and training regimen that’s a lot different than most runners out there? Or do I just talk about how my alma mater, Kansas State, beat Oklahoma on Saturday?

Well, I think the running stuff is boring. Nobody really cares about how hard I hit hills or when I foam roll. And as much as I could go on and on about K-State, that’s what the site I linked to is for. So, I’m going to talk about autism. I don’t have anything specific or deep to talk about, so I’m just going to make this like a journal entry. Today’s journal entry will be about how autism impacted me yesterday.

Just in case you’ve never been here before, my 9-year-old son Jack is severely autistic. Not really talking, still in diapers, all sorts of problems. I didn’t want his struggles to go for nothing, so I started a foundation in his name and ran 61 marathons in 2010 to try to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. Now, I just keep heading down the path I’m on, no clue where I’m going, still doing whatever I can to help Jack and other kids out there with autism.

Anyways, my diary entry.

How Autism Sucked Today

Today, autism started to suck at 4:30 a.m., the moment Jack woke me up. He decided 7.5 hours of sleep was enough and started turning on lights, looking for his iPad. I stayed with him in his room and tried to get him to go back to sleep, but that didn’t happen. A little before 6 a.m., something upset him (no clue what) and he started the self-injurious behaviors he’s been doing a lot of lately.

First, he started with rapid-fire punches to his own head. I stopped them pretty quickly and he only landed a couple, but he then started kicking his feet together pretty hard and started crying. My wife Tiffany heard him and came into the room, not knowing I was in there. She thought I was out running, but as has been the case a lot lately, I skipped it to take care of him.

She took over, but I didn’t go back to sleep. I was up for good. But tired. The rest of the morning was fairly uneventful and I got ready for work. Tiff was crying and talking to me. She was extremely upset, sobbing, “This isn’t right! He could have been somebody’s husband! He could have been somebody’s dad!”

She’s right, because those are two things that he almost certainly won’t ever be, but I always try to focus on the path we’re on, not the path we could have been on. He was pretty calm the rest of the morning and I went to work. We’re dealing with some issues for Jack and I’m waiting for some emails. I keep an eye on my phone and saw one I wasn’t expecting. Tiff immediately made a call that lasted 90 minutes and told me to call her for five minutes when I could.

Five minutes turned into 20 and I was getting frustrated. I felt like she was repeating the same thing over and over. But I listened and eventually told her I had to get back to work. I kept checking my email, but never saw what I was waiting for. I’m pretty concerned about that, but I’m pretty concerned about a lot of things.

Tiff started texting me some more about these same issues involving Jack — she’s very concerned and very upset. We kept going around and around in circles and finally I told her “ok ok ok ok” because I just wanted to move on with the conversation. Apparently, that ended the conversation.

After work, I was going to go to the gym because I didn’t exercise in the morning. Normally, Tiff doesn’t mind. I called her up, but we were talking about these issues with Jack some more. I sat in the parking lot at my work talking to her, but after 7 minutes, I just decided to start driving home. This conversation wasn’t ending and it was more important than going to the gym. Eventually she told me it was OK to go, but I was already on my way home. Oh well, not that big of a deal. But what’s one day? Thanks, though, autism.

I ate my dinner when I got home and then Jack started getting upset and slamming his iPad into his head. I sat with him and tried to restrain him and calm him down. It wasn’t much use. I was able to keep him from punching himself and I got him in his padded helmet, but he started kicking. Eventually, he got up and stomped his heel right into my left big toe. He didn’t mean to hurt me, but man … he sure did.

Tiff and I started up with the conversation again about these imminent issues we have because of Jack’s autism. It turned into an argument. It moved from the playroom to the front porch to the kitchen. I started reading some documents, but then stopped. I’m sick of this subject. It’s all we’ve been talking about for the past few days. I feel heartless for saying that, but my goodness, there has to be more to life than this.

We were still arguing a little bit about this when we went upstairs to put the kids to bed, but we got over it and came to an agreement. I put Ava to bed and then was in Ben’s room for a bit while Tiff was trying to get Jack down to sleep, about 16 hours after the day began.

She finally came out and started sobbing uncontrollably, explaining to me how afraid she is for Jack and the way he’s been harming himself so much lately. We both try our best to stop it, but it happens so quick and he’s getting so strong. She’s afraid that one day, he’s going to hit his head into concrete out of nowhere and kill himself. It sounds dramatic, but she has a point.

We’re slaves to him. He can’t be left unattended. She’s more overprotective of him than I can possibly explain, but that’s because he’s a non-verbal 9-year-old who injures himself every day. He’s our baby and he wasn’t born this way and he doesn’t deserve this. So, she’s very protective of him and emotional about it. I’m numb to the pain and just try my best to fight for all of us.

By 9 p.m., we were down on the couch relaxing and hoping Jack wouldn’t wake up. Tiff vegged to some Real Housewives show and I wrote a blog before making a root beer float and calling it a night.

Just another day in the books. Typical. That’s how autism sucked today. Hopefully tomorrow is better. But I’m not holding my breath.

On the bright side, Jack got his hair cut yesterday. Isn’t he cute? Too bad he has that self-inflicted bruise on his forehead. Poor little guy.

My homeboy!

Making A Difference

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OK, so, I’m in serious danger of writing a really long, rambling blog today. I’m so, so excited about what I’m going to write about and I have to tell some backstory and I can get wordy and I don’t want anybody to start reading this and not finish and I need to make sure that I explain this right and

Breathe, Sam. Just breathe.

Backstory

OK, here we go. First, some quick backstory. I launched this site on July 1, 2009. Operation Jack. It’s my mission. It’s named that after my son, Jack. He’s 9 now and severely autistic. Still in diapers, still having meltdowns, still barely communicating. But he’s making progress. He’s probably going to struggle his entire life. I decided in 2008 that I wanted to try to make some good come out of his struggles. I brainstormed for months and months and finally came up with an idea: I liked running a lot of marathons and running them without much recovery time, so I figured I’d run a ton in 2010 as a way to raise money for charity.

I ran 61 marathons and two ultramarathons in 2010 and went as hard as I could every time. At least one every week, sometimes two and one time three. I did this to raise money and awareness for a charity I’m a part of called Train 4 Autism. When I found T4A, I fell in love with its model. It’s run on an all-volunteer basis, basically by parents for parents. What we do is help people raise money for the autism-related charity of their choice through the event of their choice. We give them coaching, motivation, groups to train with and all sorts of support. They raise money for the local autism-related charity of their choice, getting off their couch and making the world a better place, typically in honor of their child with autism.

Everybody makes friends and has a great time and at the end of it all, kids with autism benefit from all of this, because small local charities (of the participant’s choosing) are the beneficiaries. We don’t do research or anything like that. Quite simply, we help people who are struggling inject a big positive into their life while they raise money for great charities that need help . The money we spend is good money going after a lot more good money. Capitalism, and we don’t even have payroll!

There’s seven of us (I think it’s seven) on the board that pour every spare ounce of energy we have into this. It’s been a dream of ours to grow Train 4 Autism. It was a dream of mine when I started Operation Jack to make a difference in the world. Really, who doesn’t want to make the world a better place?

Through my fundraising in 2010, some fundraising in 2011 and the 2010-2012 Operation Jack Marathons, the gross total is somewhere (I think?) in the $145,000 neighborhood? There have been expenses, but it’s still a lot of money raised. But the thing is, I never really know if or how I’ve made a difference. If I had a nickel for every time somebody told me I inspired them, I’d be a rich man. Compliments don’t build anything, though, and I’ve always wanted to see something change for the better.

End of backstory

So Tuesday, something was just confirmed to me that is like the biggest dose of caffeine I’ve had in my life. For every dollar raised through Train 4 Autism, 5.5 percent goes towards the website and credit card fees (the actual cost of the expense for us), 9.5 percent stays with Train 4 Autism (we use that for support and growth) and 85 percent goes to the beneficiary of the participant’s choice.

We get a lot of bang for our buck, because we’re all volunteers. The board members I mentioned — there’s not enough adequate words to describe our passion. We all have different roles and strengths and weaknesses. My strength has been raising money (yay Operation Jack!) and when I haven’t been too overrun in every other facet of my life, I’ve helped with some technical things with the website we use. My weaknesses are that I bite off more than I can chew and I can be a jerk when I get angry about something I care about. Not in that order.

Me and Train 4 Autism founder Ben Fesagaiga (and a whole lot of shadows) after the 2010 Surf City Marathon.

Back to the point, I just found out yesterday that we’ve raised enough money and we have enough people raising money directly for Train 4 Autism that we’re going to go on a one-year trial run of not collecting that 9.5 percent! So, for every $100 raised, 5.5 goes for the website/credit card fees (our out-of-pocket) and 94.5 goes to the beneficiary!

I am SO excited about this for several reasons.

First, this is going to be huge for participants and the small, local charities they’re trying to help. So much of the money is going to stay with the charities that need it. We like to feel like we help the little guys, and this is a big, big win for the little guys. This should help boost participation, because the incentive is that much greater now. We’re going to encourage more people and help more people. That’s what we like to do and that’s what we’re going to be able to do more of!

My dream back when I started Operation Jack was to make the world a better place for kids with autism and the way I figured I could do that is that I would help Train 4 Autism grow. I believe in Train 4 Autism and I thought that I could help provide a spark that would help with long-term growth. I wanted to be a part of it from the beginning and do what I do best to help and I feel like I’ve done that. I feel like what I’ve done has helped, and while it’s been a team effort (thank goodness, because it would have failed if it was just me), I had a legitimate role on a great team that won.

To me, this is validation of everything I’ve done over the past three years — from the ridiculous physical pounding I put my body through to all the time, plus the energy and emotion invested in everything. My efforts to make a difference have made a difference. And at the very basic root of all of this is Jack. Without what he goes through, I wouldn’t have done any of this. From the beginning, this has been my way to make sure the makes a difference in this world. I know my fellow board members feel the same way about their kids.

I focus a lot one what I need to do — write a blog here, follow up on ordering medals there, etc. But right now, when I take a moment to pause from that and think about my Jack, who’s up in his room sleeping peacefully right now as no idea about any of the things I do, it brings me a lot of joy. He inspired me to take a chance on trying something big, which has taken a lot out of me, and as satisfying as it is to work really, really, hard, it’s even more satisfying when it pays off.

It’s so awesome to be a part of something from the beginning as it grows, especially a charity that helps kids all over the country who struggle with autism. So, I’m super crazy excited right now. We’re doing this. We’re living the nightmare with autism, but we’re living the dream with Train 4 Autism. Ben Fesagaiga and Brian Thompson started Train 4 Autism, then we jumped on board and we’re all making it happen together. I’m so proud to be a part of this!

Since 2009, two Bible verses have driven me through my efforts with Operation Jack.

• 1 Peter 4:10, Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

• Galatians 6:9 Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Those have driven me and they both seem so incredibly true to me. I’ve struggled a lot lately with some many things going on in my life, especially issues Jack is having, but I’m really happy today. I finally know for certain I’m making the world a better place.

What Can You Do?

Well, as always, I’ll repeat my call to get you involved with Train 4 Autism. There are multiple ways to do this. You can pick the local event of your choice or you can pick one that’s one of our main events that we’ll have a bigger group at. You can set up a fundraising site for the autism-related non-profit of your choice in minutes.

Another model, if you’re a little more daring, is to put on a small race or walk in your area to benefit the organization of your choosing. This is something else we do and we’ve helped quite a few organizations raise quite a bit of money doing this. All you have to do is tell us you want to do it. We’ll get you set up with a race website, including registration and fundraising pages, plus we’ll help you with all the logistics planning the race all the way through to race day. This is getting formulaic for us and it’s a great way to boost community involvement in your area. Do it once and do it right and you’ll be set up with a blueprint for a great annual fundraiser

Also, you can get involved with me under my Operation Jack umbrella. I raise money similarly to how Train 4 Autism raises money. I use a little bit of money to try to raise a lot more money. The big bulk of what I raise goes to the autism-related beneficiary of my choice, which in my case is Train 4 Autism. I have a program called Race 4 Free you can look at. It’s an easy way to participate and do a good thing, there’s a very low fundraising threshold, there’s no commitment required and you get a free race entry out of the deal. WIN!

One more thing to plug and then I promise I’ll call it quits: I have a supporter named Pam Gordon who is raising money for Operation Jack as she trains for her first marathon. She’s doing the Race 4 Free option I just mentioned and is doing a virtual 5K as a fundraiser. Take a quick jump here and consider it!

OK, that’s all for today. Sorry about the super-long post. If you actually made it down this far, thank you for reading! Have a great weekend!