By Robert Frerich
This past Friday, Fordham’s chapter of Autism Speaks-U hosted its largest event of the year, Light It Up Blue (LIUB). LIUB is a nationally held event that celebrates and promotes autism awareness and serves as one of the organization’s major sources of fundraising for research.
According to the club’s website, World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) is intended to, “shine a bright light on autism as a growing global health crisis. WAAD activities increase world knowledge of autism and impart information about the importance of early diagnosis and early intervention.”
“With nearly one in 68 people in the United States identifying as having some degree of Autism Spectrum Disorder [according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], this is a very important cause to support,” said Elizabeth Eisenhart, FCRH ’16, “everyone at Fordham is affected in some aspect of their lives by autism.”
The event began at 6 p.m. in O’Keefe Commons and ran for four hours during which the Fordham Dance Team and the Ramblers performed. “We are very thankful to the Ramblers and the Dance Team for performing, they definitely helped increase turnout.” Nick Genovese, FCRH ’16, secretary of Autism Speaks at Fordham said.
For a five dollar donation fee, students were welcomed to attend this event where they could receive manicures, learn more about autism awareness and research and eat food and desserts, all donated by Autism Speaks members.
During Light It Up Blue, Autism Speaks held a raffle where students could purchase tickets to be entered into a drawing for prizes like Under the Tent tickets, gift cards to several eateries on Arthur Avenue and gift cards to department stores in Manhattan.
Students may have also noticed that the Empire State Building in Manhattan was lit up blue in honor of the cause. It was one of many landmarks around the world that was illuminated in a blue light to promote awareness.
In total, the event raised over $320 for the club and the money will be sent to its national organization, where it will go toward research. While the club considers this a successful accomplishment, its members feel that the importance of increasing awareness and knowledge of autism was most important.
“We were successful in spreading campus-wide awareness of autism and its impacts. Each year the club sees a large turnout and this year was no exception.” Genovese said. “It was a lot of work to organize this event, but my fellow e-board members and our general members did a great job in making this year another success.”
Club Events Coordinator Diana Tsukalas, FCRH ’16, was pleased with the event attendance and funds raised. “While we would always like to see more Fordham students support our club’s mission, we were happy with our overall student turnout and believe our money raised will help support our organization’s mission,” said Tsukalas.
When asked about how Autism Speaks plans to increase its membership and student turnout in the future, Tsukalas said, “We want to increase our presence on social media. While we already have an Instagram and Facebook page, we plan to keep them more actively updated and to increase our number of followers so that we can spread awareness better. I am excited to share that in the upcoming year we plan to hold more events where all students will have the opportunity to become involved and we are aiming to have larger and more frequent fundraising events.”
“Our general membership is what makes our club thrive and this year we are fortunate to have welcomed many news members that have contributed to this event. Light It Up Blue is personally my favorite event and I look forward to seeing it grow in years to come,” said Genovese.
