Amped up for autism

Senior communicative disorders major Carmina Ozaeta works with UCF's Center for Autism and Related Disabilities. She had seen the center's increased caseload despite a dwindling budget and decided to do something to help them out.

Ozaeta remembered organizing a benefit concert for her hometown of Winter Haven when she was in high school. She took that idea to her sorority, Delta Phi Lambda, and ran with it.

"It was the end of May, and I just had that fire lit," Ozaeta said. "There was no turning back."

Ozaeta got in contact with Dell Lovejoy, the owner of the Knight Library, who agreed to host the show in early July.

"We will go out of our way to help out any student or organization that's affiliated with UCF and has a good cause," Lovejoy said.

Lovejoy put Ozaeta in contact with Josh Baer, the president of the UCF Surf Club, who had hosted quite a few events at the Knight Library.

Baer and his club got four local bands to sign up for the show, and the sorority printed up fliers and started advertising.

The bands performing at the concert were Rubox, The Shoreline, Terra Terra Terra, and Alex Baugh & the Crazy Carls. All of them were excited to play for a show benefitting the center.

"We usually don't do fundraisers," said Justin Jacobs, bassist for The Shoreline, "But we could see by the way it was explained to us that this is something very important.

"You see the importance of what you can do for children and their lives."

Ozaeta also worked with Providing Autism Links and Support, a nonprofit fundraising organization for CARD. PALS donated prizes for the auction at the event and helped her with the financial aspects.

The entire preparation for the concert took just more than a month, and the concert took place Monday. More than 250 people attended, and the event raised more than $375 for CARD.

Even though it was a rock show, the night was not without its moving moments. During the course of the evening, a young man approached Ozaeta.

He had just moved to Florida from New York with his brother who had autism.

He had been trying to find resources but had not had any luck until he came to the show.

Now, because of the benefit concert, he has found help in dealing with the problems that arise from the disorder.

The money raised by the show goes a long way. CARD has its work cut out for it.

According to Judee Samuels, the financial coordinator for PALS, the center provides support to individuals with autism in Central Florida, serving thousands of people, most of them children, across seven counties.

Its main service is assisted intervention, in which coordinators travel to a child's house or school and provide them with direct assistance.

This can be something as simple as suggesting a different way to communicate or as complicated as setting up a toilet-training program for the child.

CARD also educated the families and the public about the disorder. All of its services are provided for free.

The center was created by the Florida Legislature 10 years ago and was given a budget of $900,000 for 230 families.

The center's caseload has grown to 4,620 since then, but the budget remains nearly the same. This means CARD's resources are spread thin. Their caseworkers each handle between 400 and 500 families. The state's recommendation, by contrast, is between 43 and 50.

To put this in perspective, the center needs an average of $1,000 per child to serve them properly. The costs are split between salaries, administrative expenses, running the center's head quarters building and providing its constituents with the aid they need.

If the center's budget is divided equally per child, the amount comes to $202.

PALS is trying to raise $200,000 for the center to hire four new coordinators. That would take a lot of the load off its current staff of nine.

It raises the money through pledge drives and charity events, such as the one Ozaeta put on. So far this year, PALS has raised around $25,000 for the center.

Ozaeta thought the event went well for being held in the sparse summer months, but would like to do more concerts in the fall and spring. She expects to raise more than $1,000 for the center.