Threw my pitch now it is party time tomorrow

Well yesterday I had a meeting at the school for Tarique-Jabrielle and as always the team he work's with had their ducks in a row. I absolutely love his new case manager that was assigned to him because it feels as if she really does have his best interest at hand. It only made sense that she was assigned to him because he has like 3 classes with her.  At any rate I proudly wore Tariques-Voice arm bracelet's.  I threw it out there a few times during his meeting and then in the end had an in depth conversation about who Tariques-Voice is and what we were all about.  A few of the teacher's were very receptive to it and a few had the look on their face of wanting to be else where.  I see it this way at least I planted that seed.
There was one teacher however who was a little on the defensive side when I stated that Tarique and I was reading the book "Look me in the eye". She implied that it might be to Big of a book for his age.  I personally love the book, however with that being said it did make me think that maybe we should have a few more options when it comes to the book project.  His case manager at the end gave me a wonderful recommendation for a book to read so that will be my next project before I do recommend it.
The team is meeting again this Sunday to discuss upcoming projects, town hall meeting hopefully to spring out in April to kick off the month of Autism Awareness.

Tomorrow we celebrate our 4th child and her sweet 16.  There will be over 200 kids in attendance which I am super excited about. I am passing out bracelets, having an UpStander pledge for them to sign if they chose to do so and plugging Tariques-Voice right before the cake is served.  Yes I know, it is her sweet 16 but this is an audience that I can not pass up the opportunity to approach and announce the presence of Tariques-Voice in the Community.

This is a long over due party I think for just about everyone. The weather has been just horrible and it will be nice to eat, dance and laugh with the community.
Food is provided by our dear friend the amazing and talented Greg Ruffty and Extra Virgin Catering Company, Arab Food provided by Fettosh of Toledo, Sweets by Shatila Dearborn, Photo Booth by Toledo.Pix, DJ provided by DJOneTyme.  There has been so much put into this planning and the Hotel has been amazing with pulling together a team to make it happen the way we all had hoped it would.  So let's hope it goes without a hitch.

Upcoming Town Hall Meeting - Information to Come

          Town Hall Bully Meeting
It does take a "Whole Village" to raise a child and with that being said we want to hear what you have to say. We would like to have a town hall type meeting to see just what are your main concerns with the community, the schools and what can we do for you and your children?

Our main goal is to Educate, Support and Encourage those who are experiencing bully behaviors.  We want to be the voice for those who for whatever reason can not use their own voice.  Our organization would like to take this to a whole new level and advocate in our communities, schools free of charge.  Part of the barriers for the educational system is the cost.  Getting a variety of "Anti Bully" organizations into the schools is just to expensive and let's be honest where is the follow up? 

With Tarique's Voice we want to get into the school, show the kid's what impact Bully behaviors have on those who they target.  We then want to continue to follow up with particular kids who may have been identified as either Bullies or victims. Work with them in small groups such as a "Do you really know me" type of activity and continue to empower each one through out the entire year as needed to maintain them as anti-bully peers. The educational system is so overwhelmed with educating these kids, do they really have time to provide interventions like we can?  Can they afford to pay an additional counselor or a bully advocate to service these kids throughout the year on a large scale? NO!! They can't and that is where we can step in and again best charge FREE!

I do know that Perrysburg High school has started a group called "Jacket's against Bullies". We are in hopes that Tarique's Voice can possibly met with that group on a monthly basis and talk about the activities going on in the schools and help to educate and support that group.  Change it up lunches could go on in the grade schools and the list goes on and on. 

The best thing is that all this would be free of charge for the schools, we would solely be operating on fundraisers, donations from the communities and local businesses.  Tarique's Voice would never charge the schools a fee to do this. 

Tarique's Voice was created out of love and support for my son Tarique and the expriences he has had being a victim of continued bully behaviors.  As his mom I did not want to wait until he was dead to take action and because it takes a village to raise a child, I consider all those other children who are bullied in our communities our responsibility.  I would hope that our school's would take a look at the Anti-Bully Organization that was born in their backyard to continue to make a difference.

We are aiming to have our very first town hall meeting in April to help kick off Autism Awareness Month.  Details of the event to come soon, we hope to see you there.