Starting a Sea of Dreams in Texas-from the Florida Chairperson

[Guest guest]

Dear List and Jeneane Serrano,

I have spoken with Garland at Sea World (marketing).

When I spoke to him he knew nothing about Sea of

Dreams but would check into it. He sounded receptive

to the idea and would check with Florida. I am going

to call him back with the information from below. This

message below is the information for the Florida Sea

of Dreams Chairperson, Donna Lorman, with some

details. What do you think?

Also, could someone mention this possible Sea of

Dreams slated for the first Saturday in April (that

would be April 6, 2002), at the Texas Autism

Conference next week in Corpus and maybe give some

contact information (Jeneane email/phone number?, or

have them contact their local ASA chapter, this list,

or the web page) so that they can find out more

information as it gets closer to April. It would be a

good time to talk to other ASA chapters or groups and

a cheap way to get the word out there. By the way,

who is hosting/sponsoring this event? It would be

nice to have a State ASA chapter right about now.

Hope this helps,

Theresa

Message:

Hi Theresa -

Our yearly Sea of Dreams trip here in Florida is the

most enjoyable day that our families have all year. I

am glad to see that Texas is interested in

participating.

My contact at Sea World Orlando is Dirscherl.

She is in the marketing department and has helped us

for the past 5 years. It started

with a phone call to her to ask for an " Autism

Awareness Day " at the park.The first year, Sea World

gave us 100 complimentary tickets. It has grown

from there. We are expecting between 750-1000

individuals with autism and their families this year.

The first thing that I would do is to contact the

Director of Marketing at your local Sea World and have

them contact Dirscherl (WE'VE DONE THIS).

She would be able to give them the information that

they would need to start the ball rolling from their

end. You, in the meantime, will have to draft a

proposal to Sea World requesting an " Autism Awareness

Day(Jeneane SEE ATTACHMENT IF YOU ARE GOING TO DO

THIS). " I have attempted to attach a copy of my

proposal to this e-mail. If you don't get it, please

let me know and I will send it again. Once you have

written your proposal, you will need to send it to the

Director of Marketing. It is my understanding that

this letter has to reach them by October 1, 2001 if

you

are interested in holding the event in the year of

2002.

As far as Sea World's contribution, they provide a

certain amount of complimentary tickets (usually all

that I request) and complimentary parking. In return,

the Society agrees to purchase a buffet lunch at

approx. $10.00/person. We also provide t-shirts to

all the participants so that they can be identified by

everyone during the day. During the lunch,

the characters (Shamu and Dolly Dolphin) come to visit

the children. In addition, we have live penguins come

so that the children can see them up close and

personal.

As for the day, we have a firm schedule that we abide

by. Sea World and I come up with the schedule so it

is flexible. The following is an example:

-9:00 - 9:30 - Check -in (meet at group entrance)

-9:30 - 10:00 - Go to Dolphin Show

-10:00 - 10:30 - Dolphin Show

-10:30 - 11:00 - Walk to Shamu Show

-11:30 - 12:00 - Shamu Show

-12:30 - 1:30 - Lunch in pavillion

Rest of the day - Free time with your group or

family. All participants can stay until the park

closes.

Cost to participants: I try and keep the price per

person as low as I can. The t-shirts usually run

between $4-5 per shirt. So, last year the

ticket price was $15.00/person. We have always looked

at this event not as a fund raiser but a community

awareness day. We do however, hold a silent auction

and a drawing during the lunch to raise some much

needed capital that covers all our copying and mailing

costs. We usually break even or have a small

($1,000) profit every year.

Shirts - Last year I ordered a bright yellow shirt and

had one of our members design a logo for the shirt.

Usually the front of the shirt has children with Sea

animals on the front. The statement is " 2001 - Sea

of Dreams " . On the back, we have Sea World's logo

(which you can get from them) and a statement " Sea

World salutes National Autism Awarenss Month -

April, 2001 " . The logos and lettering are all done

in black and white.

The shirts were wonderful. Sea World even commented

on how easy it was to recognize all the families of

children with autism. There was a lot of public

questions and feedback as well. I would recommend

staying with a nice bright color.

I am sure that I am missing something to tell you.

But, this is probably a good start. If you think of

any additional questions, please feel free to e-mail

me. I hope this information helps.

I look forward to hearing from you again soon.

Donna Lorman, Chairman

Sea of Dreams

Note: forwarded message attached.

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