Fundraising for BRAINS
0 Ratings / 0 Comments
Allen residents 13-year-old Taylor Jensen and her 18-year-old brother, Christopher, have very different personal interests: Taylor plays club soccer for the Dallas Texans and runs track while Christopher enjoys playing computer games and cooking; Taylor plays guitar, and Christopher plays with Tex, the family dog; she loves text-messaging her friends, and he loves engineering textbooks.
While their activities may vary, both share a strong Christian value of service. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which encourages its youth to serve in the community, Christopher and Taylor put a common interest to work: raising money to benefit the Dallas-based organization BRAINS for Autism (Benefiting Research for Autism Investigators Now at UT Southwestern). BRAINS is an organization that funds research to help solve the puzzle of autism with an ultimate goal of funding a comprehensive clinical and research center in Autism spectrum disorders.
The brother and sister team is raising money by collecting soda can tabs, the only part that is 100% aluminum, to sell for aluminum recycling at $.50 per pound at Claxton Recycling in Dallas, Community Recycling Company in Plano or K Scrap and Recycling in McKinney. Collecting tabs instead of cans takes up less space which makes donating easier for people and keeps the Jensen’s garage from being overrun with cans.
Raising funds for BRAINS for Autism not only benefits the community but the Jensen family as well. Christopher, Valedictorian from Vanguard Preparatory in Dallas, and Taylor, an eighth-grader at ErecksonMiddle School, have chosen this project because the organization is personally meaningful to them. Their cousin is severely autistic, and Christopher has Asperger's syndrome, a mild form of autism. Asperger’s syndrome is a pervasive developmental disorder that affects a child's ability to socialize and communicate effectively with others and impacts certain motor skills.
While there is no known cure for either Autism or Asperger's syndrome, treatment can help Asperger children learn how to interact more successfully with their peers. Family support and Christopher's school have greatly enhanced his success with this disorder. Part of his success includes: acceptance to 8 colleges and their engineering schools; academic scholarships offered from Colorado School of Mines, Oklahoma State, University of Oklahoma, and BrighamYoungUniversity; nomination for the prestigious CEAT scholar program at OklahomaState; and finalist in the 2007 Dallas Morning News sponsored 11th Annual Youth Poetry Competition. He’ll major in Engineering because of his natural proficiency with math and his intrigue with structure, how things work, and how they operate.
Christopher hasn’t been the only beneficiary from this project. Taylor has had ErecksonMiddle School students and people at her church express their appreciation for her efforts because they have a sibling or other family member affected with Autism.
During the school year, Christopher and Taylor had donation spots at ErecksonMiddle School and Vanguard Preparatory; but during the summer, they have been collecting tabs at home through family, friends, and members of their congregation. They will continue this project through the summer until Christopher leaves for OklahomaState. However, if they feel they haven’t raised enough funds, Taylor may continue into the fall. Their final tally will be 100% matched by an anonymous donor.
For more information, please visit the website of the organization to which they are contributing: www.brainsforautism.org.
