Elk Grove woman's homemade pins made impact on autism research
Julia Smith of Elk Grove Village has something in common with former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie: both made contributions in 2008 to the National Autism Association's Burbacher Study.
Granted, Flutie's gift was a bit larger. He gave $10,000, by way of the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation, named in honor of his son who has autism.
Smith, meanwhile, donated nearly $1,300 from proceeds raised from selling pins she made, fashioned out of what has become the national symbol in the fight to cure the disorder, puzzle pieces.
The Burbacher study is named for its lead researcher, University of Washington investigator Thomas Burbacher. It seeks to examine the effects of mercury exposure on the brain.
Last month, Smith sent a note to many of her supporters, updating them on her sales totals for the year.
For the last two years, she's sold the puzzle pins to raise money to fight autism. After raising $900 her first year, she raised more than $1,500 in 2007, with the bulk of it going to the Burbacher Study, while $216.20 was given to the Autism Society of Illinois.
"Thank you for buying my pins to support autism," she wrote to her customers. "I have learned a ton this year."
Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects a person's ability to communicate and interact with others.
Smith is a fifth-grader at Quest Academy in Palatine. This year, she raised her proceeds from craft fairs at Rolling Meadows and Elk Grove high schools, and from the Christkindlmarkt in Arlington Heights.
Her pins remain on sale at the Elk Grove Village Senior Center and Imagine on Main, in Oswego.
She also continues to offer her pins through members of the Pay It Forward For Autism, a nonprofit that provides networking and support for children with autism and their families.
Interestingly, unlike Flutie, Smith does not have a relative with autism. But during the last two years of selling the pins, she says she's met countless families touched by the disorder.
"I just see so many parents who work so hard," she said, "and the kids with autism, I see how hard they work just to keep up. I just really wanted to help them."
The jagged-edged jigsaw pieces represent all the disorders on the autism spectrum and also the puzzle they present that researchers are trying to solve.
Smith spends much of her summer creating the pins. In 2007, she created 600 to sell, and it was quite an effort.
Working in a home studio alongside her mother, who also designs jewelry, Smith says there are several steps in making the pins, from priming, painting and glazing them to embellishing them with glitter and gluing them to the actual pin device.
Her first year, she designed them in the shape of Christmas trees, before this past year shaping them in candy canes. She already has a design for 2009 but declined to divulge that secret just yet.
But this much she knows: Her family has lots of donated puzzles to fuel her pins for next year and, consequently, her plans to raise money for autism, remain as ambitious as ever.
Flutie, too, continues to hold fundraisers to find a cure for autism. On Jan. 12, his foundation will sponsor the sixth annual Flutie Bowl, where supporters can join with the New England Patriots at a bowling themed event in Boston.