Hello! Thanks for visiting our fundraising page. This is the fastest and totally secure way to help raise funds for our team, Allie's Allies. Thank you so much for your support in bringing Awareness and Acceptance for those with Down Syndrome. Thank you for being an Advocate for Allie.
Allie has had a very busy and productive year. At last year’s Buddy Walk we were thrilled to see her walking – albeit holding our hands as she did it, but she did it. This year we will be lucky to keep her near us as she loves to run from us – giggling all the time because she knows we will follow her. What a fun game! She is walking independently – began doing that around her 3rd birthday (last November). She took too it so well that in January we enrolled her in Dance Class. To which she loved! She was my little star on stage last May. Of course, all the girls were stars, but I only lay claim to my perfect Allie. She is also growing up – literally. She grew about 2 inches between February and July this year and she is no longer a sweet little baby. She is a sweet taller toddler these days. She is talking more than ever – and singing – if you are one of the select privileged ones she sings in front of - Tim and I are privileged. She is a bit shy with her words but we are thrilled to hear new words every day and they are so much clearer than I expected. I love to hear her answer us with “yes”. It sounds more like “yessssss”. That is great news. She is also in a more grown up room at school and learning to be more of a “big” kid. She is getting more and more used to following instructions and having more structured environment. She is taking it all in stride and is happy to still be around many of her friends. She still loves her sign language and has hundreds of signs – of course unless you are around her a lot, you might not interpret them as her dexterity with the specifics of ASL is still developing. The good news is all this signing and learning has allowed her to master the letters of the alphabet. She can recognize many words and knows all of her ABCs. You know we are very proud of her!
We have been as busy as any family with a rambunctious 3 ½ year old and we are enjoying every busy minute. Unfortunately our fund raising efforts are reduced this year due to many situations, but largely due to the fact we can’t find free time. We are hoping you all understand the lack of blog updates and the missing postcards in the mail. As I create this Firstgiving site, I realize the walk is only 1 month away!!
If this is a year you can make a donation of any size to Allie’s 4th Buddy Walk, we’d greatly appreciate it. The donations all go to wonderful programs including Parent Support Groups, Social Gatherings and Events, Seminars and Conventions and continued development of the Adult Down Syndrome Clinic. All these programs are in our hometown of Birmingham, Alabama. And all are very important events. Most people know in general about Down Syndrome, but when your baby is born and you hear those words or you are pregnant and you hear those words you quickly realize you really don’t know much about Down Syndrome. You begin to hear from many people that they know someone who knows someone that has Down Syndrome, but you still really don’t know what that all means. And, your dreams begin to change and you might even get overwhelmed a bit as you learn. These programs help the parents and family members as we raise our very precious children and we need to know about, understand and incorporate special learning techniques. These programs also help the community to gain an awareness and acceptance for individuals with Down Syndrome. Teachers, Therapists, Doctors and the general public learn from these programs as well. Education of the public is a key essential for our children to be accepted, treated and given all opportunities they should be given – like all other people.
This will be Allie's 4th Buddy walk - and the first one she will walk independently and will also probably run and skip and jump, too. Will you walk with us? We'd love to have a large team with us on Sunday, October 18th to support Allie and all those with Down syndrome. There will be activities for all the kids in your life -from bouncy houses to face painting and music. This is a great opportunity to help the children in your life learn about differing abilities and acceptance for all. If you’d like to join us, please register to ensure we order your T-shirt, which is your ticket into the event. Registration is $10 per person.
If you can't attend, will you consider making a donation - in any dollar amount? (really… every $5 and $10 donation adds up and really does help).
Learn more about Allie at www.allielovell.blogspot.com
Please share this fundraising effort with anyone that might be willing to donate their spare change to help us make a difference in Allie's life. If you'd rather send a check as your donation, please address it to PADS c/o 2333 Tahiti Lane, Alabaster, AL 35007.
Thank you!
Tim, Sandy & Allie Lovell