Who and/or what was it about Have Dreams that inspired you to become involved with the organization? Why has serving on a nonprofit board been meaningful for you personally and professionally?
Many years ago, my wife and I were invited to a Have Dreams gala by Fred O’Connor, who has been a long time and valued supporter of Have Dreams. I was not able to attend, but my wife Sarah attended and shared how inspirational Have Dreams is. A few years later, Fred again contacted us, but instead asked if I would consider joining the board. I met with Julia Vander Ploeg who was president of the board at the time and Kris Johnsen, our executive director. Julia and Kris shared their vision for Have Dreams and gave me a tour of our Evanston facility. I then attended a board meeting and was hooked. I wanted to help Have Dreams about 30 seconds after meeting with Julia and Kris. Their empathy for children, young adults, and adults on the spectrum and their families is inspirational to me and remains so to this day.
Personally, being affiliated with Have Dreams has been so rewarding because of the work and services that Have Dreams’ staff provides. The staff truly changes the lives of our participants and their families. I am by no means an autism expert, but as a parent of three, I understand how parents may feel when their child is excluded or not understood by their peers. Knowing that Have Dreams provides our participants with not only the skills and resources to flourish, but also a place where they know they know they are welcomed by friends (sometimes for the first time in their lives) makes me want to help the Staff at Have Dreams continue with their incredible work.
We see the impact of Have Dreams on our participants and our families, but how do you think Have Dreams impacts the wider community?
Regarding the wider community, Have Dreams has amazing training programs for teachers/school leaders that allows the well-developed techniques used at Have Dreams to be brought into the classroom. This hopefully allows more students to succeed academically, but also socially in their local school setting. These training programs share our knowledge with so many schools and school systems in the Chicago area and we have received such positive feedback from the teachers. We cannot meet the demand for these trainings.
Another aspect of how Have Dreams impacts the wider community is through our workplace internships. We work with employers who often would never consider offering internships to our participants, but more often than not, these employers’ eyes are opened to the unique strengths that our participants can bring to the workplace. Whether these employers ultimately hire our participants or not, the feedback from the employers is that working with our participants is so positive, they almost always say they would participate again and recommend other employers do so as well.
Has there been a memorable experience through Have Dreams that you'd like to share? An interaction with a participant or parent, or something special that has happened at an event or at Have Dreams?
I’m not sure there is any one particular event or interaction that comes to mind, but rather it has been a series of interactions. I have met many families at Have Dreams events and then bumped into them while out to dinner or at the grocery store. I always try to introduce myself and say hello. Every time this happens, I see the smile on the faces of our participants when they learn that I am associated with Have Dreams. The fact that just the thought of Have Dreams brings happiness to our participants is overwhelming at times. I remember being at dinner one time when a young father took my hand and would not let go until he knew I knew how important Have Dreams is for his family. Those moments mean everything to me.
