Walking for health at Jones Beach

They walk to help find a cure — for autism, blindness, pancreatic cancer and breast cancer. Most weekends this October, residents will gather at Jones Beach and traverse the boardwalk with family and friends, doing their small part to address these health crises.

“The walk is an opportunity to give back, a way to support fundraising efforts and build awareness,” explained Kristen Urban, of Seaford, whose 50-member team will participate in the “Walk Now for Autism Speaks” event on Sunday. “Our own little brigade, the Urban Cowboys, have raised over $67,000.”

The Urban family has been participating in the walk since 2006, shortly after they learned their son, Sean, was diagnosed with autism. Urban said that even though she is a special education teacher, “I was caught off guard. I didn’t know what to do.”

She turned to Autism Speaks, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding research into the causes, prevention, treatments and a cure for autism; increasing awareness of autism spectrum disorders; and advocating for the needs of individuals with autism and their families. “My family and I have supported this organization as we watched it grow,” she said. “Professionally, I have been able to direct some of the families and schools that I work with to Autism Speaks and their many toolkits that are available. I am encouraged to see the work that they are doing to help young adults with autism enter the workforce. I am amazed at the awareness and am relived that young moms who are receiving the news that their child has autism will not have to feel so alone.”

Christie Godowski, Long Island Executive Director of Autism Speaks said, “Our goal is to change the future for all who struggle with autism spectrum disorders.” She added that 1 in 68 children are diagnosed with autism, including 1 in 54 boys, with about 3 million people currently affected.

Godowski explained that on a national level, Autism Speaks recently entered into a partnership with Google to take autism research to a new level. Using the cloud system, it has made available all the research on autism to scientists around the world.