June 2025 Newsletter

Here is our fourth newsletter of 2025. We have an update on the next round of Dreams Come True grants, a competition that all the family can enter, news of more major donors stepping up, and a message to everyone who has applied for a grant this year.

Dreams Come True Grants

Following the success of our Spring sweepstakes and the generosity of donors, we have been able to make three more grants to families for a staff-assisted cruise vacation. This brings the total number of grants this year to 14. Being respectful of each families privacy, we will only be sharing reports with testimonials and photos after their vacations and with their permission. A huge thank you to everyone who took part in the Sweepstakes and made this possible.

Summer Competition - Design our 10th Anniversary T-shirt!

Each year the Foundation hold a t-shirt fundraiser, so you can show your support for our mission and help us raise money. This year is special as Autism on the Seas Foundation is TEN YEARS OLD in July. We wanted to let our community show their creativity and leave a lasting mark on our journey.

We're looking for a design that captures the spirit of our mission: Joy, Inclusion, Family Travel and the unique support we offer.

Full details how to enter will be emailed shortly, and appear on our social media pages.

Submissions will be due by August 1st, and online voting for the top three designs will begin soon after. The winner will be announced on August 18th in time for our fundraiser to begin.

Thank you Dream Makers!

This month we are grateful for two organizations who made substantial donations towards our mission:

• National Cooperative Bank of Ohio accepted our application for support and donated $1,500, following a nomination by one of our community members.

• A family foundation in Connecticut donated $5,000.

While truly no donation is too small, contributions of this magnitude have an immediate impact, allowing us to create another Dreams Come True grant for a family in need.

An update on grant-making for 2025

At this time, the Foundation has allocated its entire budget for grants for 2025. Having said that, we are engaged in intensive fundraising efforts to secure additional funding so we can award more grants later this year.

Please be assured that NONE of the 1,500 applications we received in February are being rejected. As more funding becomes available, we will select successful applicants and notify them via email.

We kindly request that you do not send messages asking for the status on your application. This is a continual distraction from our fundraising efforts, ultimately slowing down how many grants we can make. Any inquiries sent asking for a status update will not receive a response. This allows us to dedicate all our effort to securing the funds necessary to support our Dreams Come True program.

Thank you for your understanding and patience. You can follow us on social media for more updates.

Thank you for reading!

We are grateful for everyone who took the time to catch up on the happenings at AOTSF. We hope you will enter our design competition and look forward to seeing your designs!

Ian Hockley

Program Director

Aimee Cayer

Program Manager