Plenty Of Adventure At Jonathan's Day At Everglades Holiday Park
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – CBS4 is proud to have been a part of the inaugural "Jonathan's Day" event to support children with autism and their families.
"Jonathan's Day" -- a day of Acceptance and Adventure, took place Sunday, October 11th at Everglades Holiday Park.
It's named after Jonathan Mizrachi, a charming 11-year-old South Florida boy with autism, who is the son of a CBS4 employee. Jonathan loves adventure and like any other boys his age, his no fear attitude has made him an exceptional child.
"We're here in support of Jonathan's Day!" shouted KISS Country Radio DJ Darlene Evans. The CBS radio station broadcast live from the event.
But the star of the show was Jonathan himself who told the crowd to simply have fun!
"Everybody, you should have fun during the airboat rides and hope you all have fun at Everglades Holiday Park."
In addition to exciting and thrilling airboat rides, there was free face painting, a bounce house, and of course, the world famous gator show; a live gator presentation presented by the Gator Boys from Animal Planet's reality show.
PHOTO GALLERY: Plenty Of Adventure At Jonathan's Day At Everglades Holiday Park
CBS4's News anchor Rick Folbaum, who brought his whole family, emceed the event which was a fundraiser for the University of Miami/Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism & Related Disabilities (CARD). CARD is a non-profit organization providing direct services to thousands of South Florida families affected by autism.
"They often come to our center after they've first been diagnosed with autism and they have a lot of questions what autism is, what the future holds for their child, and they also really need to access community services," said Dr. Jennifer Durocher from CARD.
The center helps the families out with an individual clinician who can help determine what challenges they will face and help them get the support they'll need.
"Autism is a disorder that affects communication and socialization and so many families feel really isolated. They feel like they can't get out in the community because people aren't going to be aware of their child's needs and accepting of the differences their child may have, said Dr. Durocher.
She says an event like this is extremely important for the families to feel integrated into the community.
When Jonathan's mom learned of her son's condition, like many parents, she said she felt lost. Thankfully there was the Center and Dr. Durocher.
"She was my rock. She was able to help me get started with the therapies my son needed to get him to speak and she also helped me understand the meaning of autism," explained Melinda Mizrachi.
So the day's event was a fundraiser to give back to that organization that helped them.
The proceeds from the airboat rides go to the Center for Autism & Related Disabilities so that other families just like Melinda and Jonathan's get the help and support they need as well.
One of Jonathan's biggest supporters is Clint Bridges, who runs Everglades Holiday Park.
"We want everyone to know we're an autism friendly facility and attraction and we knew they are doing great things for the South Florida community and we wanted to be a part of that," said Clint Bridges, Vice President of Everglades Holiday Park.
Bridges hopes that other companies will be inspired to come out and do the same at next year's second annual Jonathan's Day event.