Everywhere We Go! – Cyprus, November 2011 (Donation 39)

Cyprus Autistic Association – Nicosia, Cyprus

Friday 11 November

This is the text of a “Thank You” letter that we received from the Cyprus Autisitc Association:-17 November 2011

To: Mr. Graeme Baxter

Re: Sunshine Appeal Donation in Cyprus

Dear Mr. Baxter,

The Cyprus Autistic Association was founded in 1990 and is recognised by the state as a charitable Association. It is a member of Autism Europe as well as the World Autism Organisation. The Association strives to uphold the rights of persons with Autism and caters to the needs of both the person with Autism as well as to their caretakers in daily life, education and treatment with the ultimate goal of improving their quality of life.

Graeme Baxter and Dot Wilson present the cheque to Panayiotis Savvides from the Cyprus Autistic Association prior to the match in Larnaca

In Cyprus there are currently more than 1000 individuals with Autism. For this reason, the Association has taken on the responsibility of providing special day Centers, care and therapies for these individuals. Now, Association has established four Intervention Centers in Cyprus, each of which provide daily programs for both adults and school-aged children with Autism. The services offered at our Centers include special education, socialization experiences, daily living activities, individual therapy treatments such as music therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy (including sensory integration therapy), as well as a daycare program.

Recent studies suggest that the amount of people being diagnosed with Autism globally is on the rise. This means that the number of persons in Cyprus requiring intervention and treatment for Autism across the lifespan will increase continually. The diagnosis of Autism in Cyprus is still in its infant stages and so a crucial future objective of this Association is to improve current diagnosis and treatment measures to allow early intervention programs to be implemented that will assist persons with Autism and their families to deal with this diagnosis more effectively.

Despite this overwhelming new research, only a small percentage of government funding is allocated to our cause. Thus, the Association derives its revenue mostly from fundraising events, charitable donations, sponsorships and contributions. However, in the last few years, our running costs have increased dramatically since we are operating four different Centers and we have been struggling to make ends meet.

We are sending you this letter to thank you for your decision to make the donation of the amount of €1.161,17 to our Association.

These funds will support 95 therapies Autistic children. Many families are unable to survive financially, so we are happy to be able to help them.

Thank you once again for your support.

Yours sincerely,

Paulina Chrysostomou

Coordinator

Cyprus Autistic Association