Welcome to "Jacob's Joggers" - Join our Team as a "Virtual Runner"!

Well this will be our 3rd Buddy Walk and we are all excited about it, as we all get to walk around the beautiful Notre Dame campus.  This will be an exciting year for Jacob he will be able to walk all by himself.  He's getting to be a big boy as you can tell by his 1st day of school picture attached.  Thank you for joining our team, and for any help you may be able to give in helping fund this wonderful event for our local Down Syndrome Support Group.  It's donations like yours that help to keep events like this going. -  Thank you "Team Jacob's Joggers (Paul, Marla, Amanda and Jacob)"

We were very fortunate to be able to find this non-profit support group when we moved to Indiana.  The group has been extremely supportive, informational and have a true mission in place when it comes to spreading awareness of Down Syndrome.  Just so you can get an idea of what they do and what we have benefited from here is more information:

Here is some information about the group and what your kind donation will accomplish in the Michiana area:

The Down Syndrome Family Support and Advocacy Group(DSFSAG) of Michiana, aka Michiana Down Syndrome, has an all-volunteer Board.  Currently, we have over 180 families in our support group.

Our main fundraiser is our annual Awareness Walk(formerly known as the Buddy Walk) and the funds are used as follows:

1.      Educational/Medical Mini Grants:  $200 mini grants are offered annually to families to help with educational and medical costs for the member with Down syndrome. Families are required to download a form from our website and submit it along with their receipts for reimbursement.

2.      Recreational Support: Local recreational programs, such as therapeutic horseback riding, music therapy, Kindermusik, camp, and a local social/recreational club for people with disabilities are given grant money, which is used to give our members with Ds who participate in those programs a discount on the fees.

3.      Library: We have an extensive library of books, dvds, and educational support materials related to Ds that parents can check out for free. Which my book "Jacob's Journal - My Journey Home"  www.jacobsbirthjournalbook.com is in!

4.      Welcome Bags: given to all new families. The bag contains a copy of 'Gifts', 'Roadmap to Holland', "Babies with Down Syndrome"  gifts for the baby and parents, and a file folder with inspirational stories, facts about Ds, and information about the Medicaid Waivers and Children's Special Health Care Services programs.

5.      Mom's Night Out:  Moms meet monthly at local restaurants, and we give each mom who comes $5 towards the cost of her meal.

6       Educational Scholarship:  $1000 scholarship available for any individual with Ds who attends a secondary education program.

7.      Research:  We donate $1000 to Ds research annually.

8.      Annual Calendar:  Our policy is to use at least one photo of each individual with Ds whose photo is submitted, and they each receive one free copy of the calendar. Our 2009 calendar includes pictures of almost 60 infants, children, teens and adults with Ds.  We keep the cost low ($5) to make it an affordable awareness tool for families to use. The calendars are also used as thank-you gifts to Buddy Walk© donors, and are given to medical professionals with the intention of spreading positive awareness about Down syndrome. Which Jacob is in, so if you would like one please let me know!

9.      Parties:  We host three or four family parties each year.

10.    Educational Conferences: We try to sponsor an annual conference in our area to help promote education, awareness and support for our families and professionals. We keep the fees low ($35-50 for an all-day event, including lunch) in order to make the conferences affordable for parents and professionals. A couple of our presenters have been Susan Peoples and Nancy Kaufman. 

11.     Family Support Group Meetings:   Dinner and free child care are provided at our monthly family support meetings. The meetingsinclude guest speakers on variety of topics including special needs trusts, health and safety issues, Medicaid waivers, etc.

12.      Hospital Bags:  Hospital bags are delivered to any member with Ds who has to have a hospital stay. The bags have a couple of inexpensive toys/books for the child as well as snacks and a journal, etc. for parents.

13.      Birthday card:  given to each member with Ds along with a $5 gift card

14.      Transition bags: for families whose child is transitioning out of First Steps or High School

15.  **Newest goal is to establish satellite groups in outlying regions of our service area