Our December 2019 Referral Charity Winner!

Ronnie and Mitzie Brown are our December 2019 Referral Charity Program Winner!

Ronnie and Mitzie Brown chose Autism Speaks to be the recipient of the December 2019 referral charity donation. This charity is important to them because they have a friend whose grandchild is autistic.

Ronnie and Mitzie met in Michigan after Ronnie returned from his military service and found that Mitzie’s family had moved in next door. Since then they got together and now have been married for 56 years. Ronnie and Mitzie decided to move to Florida because they had two friends from Michigan who regularly rented a place in Boca West and would invite them to stay there. In 2000, Ronnie decided to retire from the insurance industry and move to Florida, having enjoyed their experience.

Ronnie spent his first 9 years, in Florida, as a “tennis bum” and later spent 2 years driving cancer patients to and from their appointments. He would later get surgery on both of his hips at Delray Medical and spent time pushing wheelchairs for the hospital after that. However, for the last 4 years, Ronnie has been self-employed as a home watcher for snowbirds. Mitzie is a volunteer for the Jewish Federation. She currently tends to the needs of 3 clients and helps them do their banking, shopping, etc. Ronnie and Mitzie have two daughters that live in Chicago. One works for the city in event planning and volunteers and the younger of the two is the benefits specialist for Swedish Covenant Hospital.

Autism Speaks

Autism Speaks was founded in February 2005 by Bob and Suzanne Wright, grandparents of a child with autism. Recognizing the need for a powerful voice Bernie Marcus donated $25 million to help financially launch the organization.

Building upon the legacy of three leading autism organizations, Autism Coalition for Research and Education (ACRE), the National Alliance for Autism Research (NAAR) and Cure Autism Now (CAN), who merged with the organization, Autism Speaks has made extraordinary advancements in the autism community. 

Chief among these are increased global awareness of autism, a better understanding of the breadth of the autism spectrum, and advocacy to increase research and access to care and support.

Today, Autism Speaks is dedicated to advancing research into causes and better treatments for autism spectrum disorders and related conditions both through direct funding and collaboration.

It is clear that the mission of Autism Speaks will require the organization to grow in new ways and build capacity to be a sustaining organization to accelerate progress in science and support people with autism and their families over a lifetime. 

This will require investment in people, infrastructure, and processes in order to operate as a best in class non-profit organization.

To learn more about Autism Speaks visit their website autismspeaks.org