News from The Ernie Els Center for Autism South Africa, providing lower resourced families of children on the autism spectrum with free access to effective education for their child via e-learning programs.
1. Els Center of Excellence in USA opens its doors
The Els Center of Excellence, currently being built in Florida, USA, welcomed its first students on Monday August 17 when it opened the first two components of the Center – The Lower School and The Auditorium Building. The milestone was marked by a ribbon cutting ceremony led by Ernie and Liezl Els (pictured above). This is the first center of its kind and it will directly benefit the Autism community across the globe. More specifically, The Ernie Els Center for Autism South Africa will be among the first to directly benefit from this truly unique resource.
“This dream has been in the pipeline since 2009,” commented Ernie at the official opening, “and when the first kids, including our son Ben, walked through the door on Monday it was an incredibly special and proud moment. We have only reached this point thanks to the collective support of a huge number of individuals and organizations. Whether people have donated $1 or $1million everyone who has supported us has literally been a building block for this Center.”
The Lower School, which will be known as ‘The Learning Center at The Els Center of Excellence’, will provide public charter school education for up to 150 children from ages 3-14, and, in-line with the entire campus, has been specifically designed to create a learning environment that is suited to children on the spectrum. This includes features such as special LED lighting to mitigate behavioral issues that can be triggered by standard fluorescents; specially designed learning labs for life-skills and vocational training; and a sensory integration room to foster sensory and motor development. Through the use of interactive technology and observation rooms the Lower School will also provide an invaluable resource for applied research studies, allowing resident experts, visiting scholars and researchers to examine issues and develop practical approaches to the wide range of challenges that individuals on the spectrum face.
The state-of-the-art Auditorium Building, specifically designed to help facilitate the dissemination and gathering of applied research findings and best practices, will enable the Foundation to take its global outreach activities to the next level. The building includes a 300-seat auditorium equipped with video-conferencing technology, a green-room, 3 smaller video-conferencing suites and additional office space to house the Els for Autism Foundation development and programming staff, visiting scholars and researchers.
These are the first components that are being delivered of a 26-acre campus that, once complete, will include an Upper School (with capacity for an additional 150 students ages 14-22), extensive sports and outdoor recreational facilities (including a gymnasium, swimming pool, golf practice facility, athletics field, and play courts), a cafeteria, a medical and professional services building and an adult services component.
Even before the dedicated buildings are in place the Center is bringing together the critical elements of early intervention, education, sports and leisure, applied research, transition to adulthood, medical and professional services, and adult services all on one campus. Having all the essential elements on one campus, with the integrated programing and continuity of service that this allows, will not only be a tremendous resource for the children in the local area of Palm Beach County, but positions the Center as a game-changing resource for autism. Using the Center as its base Els for Autism will be developing and rolling out innovative, evidence-based programs for families and individuals across the life span. These programs are focused on making best practices in education and therapy available to children, families and autism experts not just locally but across the U.S. and internationally.
Afterwards Liezl Els, credited by her husband as “the power behind this whole thing,” spoke movingly about seeing their dream of a world-class Center for Excellence come to fruition. Liezl explained that their goal was “to make our Center and programs accessible to people around the world. This Center is going to give our children the space to explore and express themselves. Over time they have had to make do with whatever they could get. We wanted to build a facility where these kids could realize their potential…and so that we could show the world just what our kids are made of, how strong they are, how talented they are and how far they can really go in life and what a massive contribution they can make to society.”
2. Marking ‘Mandela Day’ at The Ernie Els Center for Autism
Every year we are truly grateful for all the support we are given, especially on Mandela Day. This year’s Mandela day fell on a Saturday, but we had several groups of volunteers take off time from their busy Friday work schedules to come and make their mark in aid of this PAY IT FORWARD focus of Mandela Day. We were lucky enough to have several fun events, one of which was a visit from Sue and her fantastic JOY DOGS. We were also spoiled by JUSTPLAY, a company who transformed our child room into a sanctuary and an organised space for our kids. We also had a visit from the Matthew Goniwe School of Leadership and Governance (MGSLG), which is “a semi-autonomous, non-profit organisation established to serve as the training arm of the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE)”.
3. GameON Clinic takes place at fantastic Oubaai Golf Club
We were fortunate enough to host our first out of province GameON Golf Clinic at none other than the beautiful Oubaai Golf Club. 17 children participated from 2 local schools, Up with Downs and the Leolan Academy. Despite the cold and rainy weather resulting in our first indoor GameOn Clinic, it was a huge success. Thank you to Val and her SNAG team for all your hands on support, and to those individuals from Oubaai Golf Club for helping to make this an unforgettable experience. We really hope that this will only be the start of many more GameON experiences for both of these communities, who expressed their enthusiasm in ensuring that such events are continued in the future.
We would also like to bring to your attention some fantastic Els for Autism fundraising golf days taking place in the coming weeks:
Durban Country Club: 23 October
Ebotse, Benoni: 29 October
De Zalze, Stellenbosch: 3 November
Silver Lakes, Pretoria: 5 November
4. Joy Dogs put big smiles on the faces of our STARS
The Ernie Els Center for Autism, together with Autism South Africa and the Johannesburg Hospital School, hosted our third Saturday STARS (Siblings That Are Really Special) group for the year…and did we have fun! There were a variety of activities for our kids to experience, including Yoga and another visit from the Joy Dogs. For our siblings and children with Autism there was also an opportunity to learn how to decorate cupcakes. “I think it is safe to say that we all learned a new skill or two this time,” commented Shani Lits, Director of The Ernie Els Center for Autism. “Our sincere thanks to everyone who attended and assisted on the day.”
5. Show support for autism with our blue-and-white ribbon pins
The introduction of blue-and-white ribbon pins has proved a popular initiative in terms of raising awareness for autism, with many PGA TOUR pros, including Ernie, wearing them on their caps during the RBC Heritage tournament at Harbour Town earlier this year. These pins are now available for purchase. The cost per pin is just R40 with all proceeds going to Els for Autism. What’s more, the symbol of the blue-and-white ribbon will become synonymous with Autism Awareness and the work we are proud to be involved in to help people on the spectrum, not just in South Africa but all around the world.
To purchase your pin please email: aretha.kausele@ernieels.com.
