About lax traders 4 Autism
Lax Traders Inc./Lacrosse the Spectrum is a 501(c)(3) registered non-profit that is bringing lacrosse and Autism Awareness together. Our founders each had a passion; lacrosse and autism. They decided to bring those two together into one cause. Lax Traders 4 Autism was founded with four main principles; Autism Awareness, Education, Advocacy and Inclusion. There are myths, misconceptions and just plain incorrect information about Autism that is startling; one of the biggest myths is that children with Autism cannot play sports. Children with Autism face many challenges from a variety of directions; social, processing, coordination, speech, etc.... While some children may struggle with sports most aren't even given the opportunity to try simply because of the myth that children with Autism can't play sports. Sadly once a child has the autism label; they are automatically removed from sports.
There may be some hurdles to cross but there are many children with Autism that not only play sports but excel at them; some of our volunteers are a testament to that. Our mission is to simply give these children the opportunity to try lacrosse to be included and not just watch from the stands; a sport they more than likely would have never been exposed to; if they enjoy it and even just take a stick, a ball and throw it against a wall for an hour a day; then we've completed our mission.
We do this by hosting clinics for children with Autism where we give them the basic history of the game and then with our trained staff of volunteers we'll walk them through the basics of the game and equipment, throwing, catching and the game itself. As we progress our advanced clinics will have the basics of the game and maybe a small scrimmage or two.
We are a 100% volunteer organization. We have no paid staff, everyone that helps us run Lax Traders does it for the love of the game and wanting to bring kids with Autism into the lacrosse family.
You can support us in several ways:
1 - Yes, we take donations, just as with with non-profit, funds are always tight but with our all volunteer organization you can be assured that 100% of your donation will go to our programs.
2 - You may have noticed on our website that we have Autism Inspired lacrosse equipment. Our prices are really donation amounts, any donation you make; you'll receive something made by our volunteers that is Autism Inspired and lacrosse related; from a simple bracelet made from our own inspired crosslace to a full lacrosse stick with our very cool carbon fiber or aluminum Autism shafts. We have heads that have been strung by our professional stringers from across the country and some dyed heads that artists from all over have volunteered their talents to make some amazing pieces.
3 - You can donate equipment. Look in that closet, garage, basement or even the trunk of your car; there some old lacrosse equipment in there. Used heads, shafts, helmets, gloves, anything, we can use all of it. Heads and shafts we'll refurbish and every child that comes through our program will get a stick to take home with them. Some heads we may be able to turn into a work of art and some (the ones that aren't playable, may give the the last of their lacrosse lives as scrap for our artists/dyers to test out new colors). We'll give you a credit to our website and you can use that credit to get some Autism Inspired equipment to proudly show your support.
4 - You can volunteer your time. As we begin to hold clinics (right now in Southeastern PA but spreading out from there) we can always use volunteers to help out. You'll attend a training session to learn the challenges you may face and how to deal with them as you work with these athletes.