Signal Mountain High School senior Denver Dressler raised $1,000 selling bracelets reading “Autism: Get the Facts.” All funds raised will be donated to the Chattanooga Autism Center, which provides resources for local families dealing with autism such as support groups and Parents Night Out events.For his senior project, Signal Mountain High School student Denver Dressler, who has a form of autism called Asperger’s Syndrome, set out to raise awareness about autism by selling bracelets reading “Autism: Get the Facts” along with a short list of facts about autism.
He sold the bracelets around town at places including his school and Signal Mountain Athletic Club, ultimately raising $1,000 for the Chattanooga Autism Center.
“I think they needed more money and funding for autism for more awareness,” said Dressler as to why he selected the autism center as the beneficiary of his fundraising efforts.
Signal Mountain resident Karen Weigle, clinical psychologist with the Autism Center and Dressler’s mentor for his senior project, said the funds will be used mainly to provide child care during the year-old center’s programs such as monthly seminars and support groups.
“We have a lot of events where parents need child care,” she said. “We use highly trained people to provide child care, and we try to pay them something for their time.”
The funds will also go toward providing supplemental support for clients in need, she said.
“We can do a lot with a little money,” said Weigle. “Denver’s contribution is actually quite big in our little budget.”
Dressler’s mother Laura Lea said the Autism Center has personally been a great resource for her and her family. The Dresslers plan to use the center’s services, such as sibling support groups, more often this summer.
Laura Lea Dressler added that she signed up to be a resource through the center for mothers of children newly diagnosed with autism.
“That was one of the things I wanted when Denver was first diagnosed: a mother to tell me everything was going to be OK who had already been through it,” she said. “I never found that because there wasn’t a resource at that time. It’s so comforting for me to see that for young parents,” she added of the other resources provided by the center, such as support groups and Parents Night Out events. “What I wanted most in the world was to have another mother at the end of the day who understood what I was going through.”
She said her son wanted the money raised to go to families in Tennessee dealing with autism, so the Chattanooga Autism Center was a natural choice.