School for Autism Needs a New Bus!

Connections Education Center is a nonprofit, Title 1 school that serves students with autism in Palm Beach County, Florida. Their curriculum includes adaptive swim lessons because drowning is the No. 1 cause of death for kids with autism and because these students live near lots of water. The school recently lost a student to drowning outside of school so this issue is even more urgent.

They have a bus that takes students to/from the pool during school, but the bus is 15 years old and breaks down frequently. Last school year, they raised $114,800 to buy a replacement bus. But when they went to order the bus, inflation had driven the price up due to the increasing cost of steel and other raw materials.

We're trying to raise $19,911 so they can finish buying this bus by December 2022. With a replacement bus, they can continue teaching students to swim and take them into the community to work on socialization and independent-living skills. They have qualified for a grant that helps pay for the aquatic program but they have to be able to transport the kids to the pool.

Please help us fund this bus! Any amount helps.

You can learn more about the school at their website: https://connectedpb.com. You'll see that more than 80% of the students live below the poverty line, giving us an opportunity to help some of the most underserved kids in this area. Thank you for making a difference in the lives of students with autism!

Below, see special needs swim instructor Katie and some of our students with autism at swim lessons.

Here's the current bus that's in urgent need of replacement:

Here's a picture of the bus the school hopes to order. It seats 77 students enabling them to transport more of their students!

The local news covered this swim program in May 2022 when Katie included parents so they could continue swim lessons over summer break:

Please help this school finish buying this bus! Any amount helps.

Thank you for caring about these kids and making a difference in their lives!