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Beta
Rho Brothers Run for Autism Awareness
| Autism Speaks, the nation's largest
autism advocacy organization, holds
walking and running events across
the country year-round to raise
funds and awareness. With the expense
of putting on such a race, Jim
decided last year that they’d
be better off plugging in to an
already successful event. The Penn
Relays, already scheduled during
Autism Awareness Month, seemed
like the perfect idea. In year
one, they gathered a |
Jake
Walker, Sid Chandrasekhar,
Will Travis, Josh Eisenberg,
Steve Bibu, Ran Wei and Jeremy
Estey |
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group of six family members and friends and entered
as "Autism Speaks at the Penn Relays." Together
they raised $3,000 for the cause.
This year, there were 25 participants running the 5K on behalf of Autism Speaks, and in total, the group raised $5,000. Seven of the runners were brothers from the Beta Rho chapter, including: Josh Eisenberg, Jake Walker, Will Travis, Sid Chandrasekhar, Steve Bibu, Ran Wei and Jeremy Estey. Jeremy, a club runner at Penn, placed third overall in the event with an impressive 18:32 finish time. Even though the other six don’t consider themselves runners, they participated in order to help Jim and Autism Speaks get the word out.
Josh also helped coordinate the chapter’s participation in another fundraising
event earlier this year, put on by a sorority, to help support cancer research. "Everyone
had a lot of fun being part of that event," says Josh. "However, the
opportunity to support Autism Awareness was special because it was associated
with an alumnus. We are enthusiastic about participating in future years and being even more involved than we were this
year," he says.
Jim genuinely appreciates the response he received
from the chapter. "I was standing on the corner of 33rd Street that
day and saw a wall of blue coming toward me. It was the Sigma Nus, and
all of them were wearing their Autism Speaks T-shirts. As we were walking
together to the start line there were three police officers, guarding the
closed off streets, who noticed us and stopped to say they, too, have autistic
children," he recalls.
 Brendan
Gillespie (R, front row) on the Capitol Hill Steps with Senator Christopher
Dodd and Bob & Suzanne Wright, founders of Autism Speaks |
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What most people don’t know is that 1 in every 150 children
is diagnosed with autism. Limit the scope to boys and the odds are worse,
at 1 in every 94.
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According to Autism Speaks, 67 children are diagnosed each day. "The saying goes,
among my friends with autistic children, ‘If you don’t know someone with autism,
just wait 20 minutes,’" says Jim.
Jim’s 14-year-old son Brendan was diagnosed at age 2 with Aspergers Syndrome, a form of autism. Doctors advised Jim and his wife that their son might never be able to say his own name, but that couldn’t be further from the truth today. "With much hard work on his part, Brendan is very articulate and has become an advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves. He’s been the driving force behind much of our efforts," says Jim.
In March, Jim and Brendan went to Washington, D.C. to meet with the founders of Autism Speaks and Senator Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, who has since introduced a bill to Congress that would help families affected by autism to put away funds for future medical expenses.
Jim is already looking forward to next year’s Penn Relays Distance Classic, at which he’s certain to start earlier to get the chapter involved and hopefully secure corporate sponsorship to increase their fundraising efforts. |
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