Small donations, big difference: Allies of those with autism speak to the power of community support

By Chris Kudialis

Monday, April 17, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Nichol Zamora found more than her calling with the Peoples Autism Foundation. In 2010, at age 28, she started driving a truck for the newly founded nonprofit providing respite care and school supplies to Clark County students with autism. She met her future husband, fellow employee Angel Rodriguez, and also was promoted to director of community outreach.

Above all, Zamora found meaning in helping what she considered an underserved group. A godmother of a child with autism, she saw firsthand the financial and emotional struggles that accompany advanced needs. She and her small but passionate team wanted to make that challenge for parents — and teachers — more manageable.

As of last summer, they were succeeding. The team of 13 served as many as 3,000 students across 40 elementary, middle and high schools during the 2015-16 academic year. Although the foundation no longer provided respite care, its donations of school supplies had reached an all-time high. And with more than 40,000 pounds of donated clothing set to be sold to local thrift stores to raise money, more growth was on the horizon.

Until the fire. On Aug. 25, just after midnight, the Peoples Autism Foundation’s 20,000-square-foot warehouse near the Strip was set ablaze by sparks from an exhaust fan. The flames caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage, destroying the facility and all its contents. “I was in complete shock,” Zamora said. “Everything was gone.”

Without a facility to manage, she was forced to lay off nine employees, trimming the foundation staff to four by the start of 2017. To keep it operating, she used her home as a site for collecting donations. “My husband and kids were all on board. It wasn’t easy, but we had to keep going.”

Soon after, the Peoples Autism Foundation began placing large donation bins in parking lots outside schools, strip malls and gas stations. The bins — 56 valleywide — allow a more convenient way to donate than going to a warehouse or waiting for a community drive. The organization also offers home pickup through a hotline, 702-478-2899.

The dedication of the remaining foundation staff — and financial support from the Las Vegas community in the wake of the fire — enabled its skeleton crew to still serve 1,500 students across 19 schools this year, Zamora said.

Standing in the auditorium of Doris French Elementary School earlier this month, in front of a class of about 20 students with autism in kindergarten through second grade, Zamora and Rodriguez presented two palettes stacked 4 feet high with school supplies and backpacks catering to the special needs classroom.

“This is huge,” said Tammy Fogg, a first-year teacher of students with autism, including nonverbal communicators and those with undiagnosed degrees of the condition, which can be severely debilitating at the far end of the autism spectrum. “There’s only so much money allotted for these students.”

Also on hand to thank the foundation, Doris French assistant principal Rikki Wiercinski said: “It makes a huge difference to the families, who are often in a position where they’re struggling. Taking care of special-needs kids is a lot on a parent, so when you know there are people out there backing them up, it makes a big impact.”

While some parents notice and choose to address their children’s autism as soon as possible, others don’t immediately understand the symptoms, Fogg said. Instead of taking precautions or seeking a doctor’s perspective, these parents can live in denial, either by thinking their children are passing through phases of social awkwardness (in the case of high-functioning students), or believing they erred as parents and can fix the disorder through stronger discipline.

Even when parents are aware of their children having autism and seek an early diagnosis, helping them adapt through behavioral, occupational and speech therapy programs can add up financially, the teacher added. That means less money to spend on basic items such as clothes and school supplies. And that’s where the Peoples Autism Foundation steps in.

“We want to help, and we’ve never said no to any family that has asked for it,” Zamora said. “And it’s not just the child with autism. We serve all children in their family, because those children are affected as well.”

Joanna Bennett, a fourth-grade teacher at Doris French, can relate. Her son, a second-grader at the school, has autism and is nonverbal. Bennett acknowledged that her fourth-grade daughter “misses out on things because the focus tends to go more with the child with the disability.

“I think the biggest thing is understanding the needs of your child are going to be very different than a typical child, and what you ever thought your child was going to need,” Bennett said. “You just have to have patience.”

Patience has been key for the Peoples Autism Foundation, too, in overcoming the setbacks of the fire. The organization moved into an office on West Sahara in March. While it had projected serving as many as 4,500 students this school year before the warehouse was lost, Zamora said it likely will take a couple of years to build back to that point.

“It’s easy to want to throw your hands up and give up when you hit a low point ... but we were able to keep our name out there and still give supplies to the kids,” she said. “The autism community has definitely been one huge family. They haven’t let us down, and we’re not going to let them down either.”