"Random Acts of Kite-ness"

Kindness is in the Air!

As we prepare for our 17th Sensory-Friendly Kite Day on Saturday, April 28th, we were taken aback by a true act of kindness this week. We just had to share...

Dan Oullettee is a long-time supporter of The Autism Alliance who now lives on the West Coast. He has attended and volunteered at most of our Kite Day events over the past 17 years. This year he will be unable to attend, but wanted the autism community to know that his heart would be with us.

On Saturday, Executive Co-Director, Allison Daigle received a shipment of 300 beautiful and easy-to-assemble kites to give away to attendees at Kite Day! What a generous act of kindess, Dan - thank you from all of us!

Ironically, something new we have planned for this year's Kite Day is "Random Acts of Kite-ness" (see what we did there?!). We have about 25 different things planned that our staff will randomly bestow upon attendees at Kite Day...some items are monetary, some items are fun and some items will make the day easier and even more enjoyable for your family. ALL are intended to spread joy and make you smile.

Little did we know that Dan would kick off this campaign a week early with his amazing kite donation! Kindness - or should we say KITE-NESS - is definitely in the air.

Please join us for Kite Day 2018. From 11:00am - 2:00pm, atop Bose Mountain in Framingham, we will host a festival-like event specifically for individuals with autism, their families and anyone who could benefit from a sensory-friendly environment. The day will feature trackless train rides, rebounders/mini trampolines, interactive music therapists, Framingham firetrucks and police vehicles, pizza and beverages, Italian ice, incredible raffles, therapy dogs and, of course, non-stop kite flying!

We kindly suggest a donation of $5 per car. All attendees are encouraged to bring their own kite -- and feel free to visit the table where we will now be giving away the 300 kites that our friend Dan donated.

Last, but certainly not least, we would like to give a huge shout-out to all our sponsors who have made this day possible:

The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, Spectrum for Hope, Middlesex Savings Bank, The Guild for Human Services, Bose, Wegmans, Coady Connects/ReMax and Roche Bros.

And to our community partners from the Framingham Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Natick High School Key Club - thank you for volunteering your time. It truly is a treasure.