Please take a moment to register

when you arrive at the walk. Or

you can register online at

www.pugetsoundbuddywalk.com.

If you register online by Septem-

ber 13, we’ll guarantee your t-

shirt size. Buddy Walk t-shirts are

$5 each, free for members with

Down syndrome.

Funds raised at the Puget Sound

Buddy Walk support the advo-

cacy, educational, and social activi-

ties of the Down Syndrome Com-

munity, and the national programs

of the Nation Down Syndrome

Society.

The Buddy Walk was developed by the

NDSS in 1995 to celebrate Down

Syndrome Awareness Month in Octo-

ber and to promote acceptance and

inclusion of people with Down syn-

drome.

Contact: Lynne Palmisano,

buddywalk@downsyndrome

community.org or 425-681-2957

www.pugetsoundbuddywalk.com

www.buddywalk.org

www.downsyndromecommunity.org

October, Down Syndrome

Awareness Month, is right around

the corner, and its arrival means

the Down Syndrome Commu-

nity’s Puget Sound Buddy Walk is

upon us. Slated for Sunday, Octo-

ber 3rd from 1:00-4:00PM at the

Seattle Center. It won’t be at the

same location this year. The new

location is called Center Square

and it’s near the Space Needle.

The walk itself is a short one-mile

walk around the Seattle Center

grounds. But the event is much

more, with guest speakers, enter-

tainment, kids’ activities, re-

sources, artists, networking, a

little food, and a big raffle.

Plans are still coming together for

the walk. What we know as this

issue goes to press: Our self-

advocate speaker this year is Eric

Matthes from the ARC of King

County. Keith Black from KCIS

radio will be back to emcee.

We will have many resource

booths, including Special Olym-

pics, Outdoors for All, Young Life,

Reeces' Rainbow, the ARC of King

County, the ARC of Snohomish

County and more. Artist’s booths

will be featured again this year,

including Lupita Cano and Dyan

Kuehl among others. The DSC

Sharing Library will be available for

receiving and sharing books and

other media.

The Boeing Klown Klub will pay a

visit, and VSA Arts will be running

our arts and crafts section. Our

famous fishing pond feature re-

turns, where kids can catch some

fun free prizes.

We’ll have a pre-walk band and a

post-walk band. After the walk,

we’ll have refreshments available

for a $3 donation.

Raffle tickets will be on sale at the

walk. In fact, they’re available right

now for purchase—and for selling

on behalf of the Buddy Walk. See

the enclosed flyer for more info,

or find the flyer on our website.

14th Annual Puget Sound Buddy Walk October 3rd

Down Syndrome Community

September 2010

DSC Newsletter Our Goals:

Build a caring, under-

standing, supportive

community open to all

individuals and families

whose lives include a

person with Down

syndrome.

Share and nurture a

climate where every

human being is recog-

nized, their strengths

appreciated, and their

accomplishments re-

spected and valued.

Strengthen the net-

work of individuals

and groups working

with issues affecting

the lives of those with

developmental dis-

abilities and their

families.

Inside this issue:

From the President 2

Entertainment

Books for Sale

2

Spreading the

Word

2

Megarama Day 3

Exciting Fundraising

Opportunity

3

Upcoming Events 4

The DSC is proud to offer members & friends an exciting new fundraising opportunity for

the Buddy Walk!

To learn more, see page 3.

We want both the Puget Sound

Buddy Walk and our organization

to become a little better every

year, and your participation is a

key ingredient in our success.

This year we’re trying a couple

experiments to save money and to

raise money. One is our member-

ship drive Eco-envelope mailer,

which saved us money over our

traditional August mailer. Another

experiment is asking people to

help us collect donations for the

Buddy Walk. I’m excited about

this. I have family and friends who

will contribute for the first time,

because this style of fundraising

makes it easy for them.

We decided to continue the tradi-

tional Buddy Walk Raffle, and we

managed to land some super

prizes this year in spite of the

economy. As always, we’re hungry

for ticket sellers.

No matter how you are able to

give back to the DSC, I hope you

take advantage of the Buddy Walk

this year. It’s a perfect way to

spend three hours on an October

Sunday. The energy and positivity,

the potential connections, the fun,

all make it worth your while. It is

an empowering event.

Special thanks to the Buddy Walk

Committee for their hard work

keeping the Puget Sound Buddy

Walk alive and relevant.

See you at the Buddy Walk!

—Sean King

From the President

Page 2 DSC Newsletter

Entertainment Books Entertainment books will be available at the Puget Sound Buddy Walk.

You can also place orders via the Entertainment website, which allows

you to buy Entertainment books for cities all over the country. To

order online, go to our website and click on the Entertainment logo

or go to www.entertainment.com/discount/?groupID=911586

Thank you for choosing us as your Entertainment book source.

The Down Syndrome Community

is selling 2011 Seattle/Eastside

Entertainment books again this

year for the discounted rate of

$25 each.

If you would like to buy some (or

sell them to benefit the DSC),

contact Lynne Palmisano:

lyntoy1@aol.com, 425-681-2957.

Please let us know if

you have something

you would like to share

with our readers in our

“Spreading the Word”

section.

Spreading the Word Down TV

Invest for Children, i4c, an inter-

national nonprofit organization

working to build a better life for

people with intellectual disabili-

ties, especially Down syndrome,

has set up Down TV, a website

exclusively dedicated to videos

related to Trisomy 21. The site is

open to all kinds of audiences and

you can upload and share your

videos (both amateur and profes-

sional).

www.downtv.org

You can email Maria Vicente,

promoter of the website, at

mvicente@investforchildren.org

Forever Friends

“Forever Friends” is an inclusive

children’s television show pro-

duced by Creative Arts and Abili-

ties, starring Chris Burke. This

unique show features people with

and without disabilities both in

front of and behind the camera.

Individuals with disabilities will be

featured as talented, “abled” ac-

tors.

To view the pilot episode, go to

www.chrisburke.org/links

For more information, you can

contact John DeMasi at 609-581-

2651 or jmuso105@aol.com

Universal Design for

Learning

UDL provides a set of principles

and guidelines to ensure that all

students have equal opportunities

to learn while maintaining high

achievement standards. Curricu-

lum is designed to give educators

the strategies, tools and instruc-

tional materials they need to effec-

tively teach diverse learners, in-

cluding gifted students, English

language learners and students

with disabilities. UDL facilitates

inclusion and also benefits stu-

dents in special education classes.

Learn more at www.cast.org and

www.udlcenter.org

Megarama Day 2010 Page 3

Good news! The DSC’s Heidi Heier Memorial Sharing Library will be at the Puget Sound Buddy Walk this year.

If you have books, CDs, DVDs or other media related to living with Down syndrome sitting idle on your shelves, please bring them to the Buddy Walk. Drop them off at our table and share them with others. And browse

what others have brought to share with you.

Once you have a

FirstGiving page up

and running, it’s easy

to reach out to people

you know all over the

world.

FirstGiving and Donation Collection

There’s also a donation form you

can use to approach friends, family

and acquaintances personally. You

can find it on our website.

Asking DSC members and friends

to gather donations opens up new

opportunities for people to give.

As an incentive, we’re awarding a

valuable Brooks Running gift cer-

tificate to the individual or team

who raises the most money. See

the attached flyer for more infor-

mation, or go to our website.

If you have a desire to help us

grow, but don’t have the re-

sources to volunteer your time

and talents, here’s a simple way to

help, using e-mail, social network-

ing and good old face to face. To-

gether we can take the DSC to

new levels.

The Buddy Walk is our largest

fundraiser of the year, thanks to

the Buddy Walk Raffle and dona-

tions collected during the walk.

This year we’ve set up a new cam-

paign online through FirstGiving, a

nationally recognized and proven

method of online fundraising. To

start raising money, simply sign up

as an individual or fundraising team

at www.firstgiving.com/14286.

Over 200 cowpokes, young and old, journeyed to the M-Bar-C Ranch for the biggest Megarama Day ever!

Networking, acceptance, imagination. Fun, friends and smiles everywhere. Unforgettable.

17930 Normandy Terrace SW

Normandy Park, WA 98166

The Down Syndrome Community is

a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit

organization whose mission is to

improve the lives of individuals with

Down syndrome and their families

by focusing on education,

communication and advocacy. Our

service area includes the entire

Puget Sound region and Western

Washington. Our members include

a wide cross section of families and

professionals across the United

States.

You can find more information and

make a tax-deductible donation

through PayPal by visiting our

website at

www.downsyndromecommunity.org

Board Meetings

Board meetings are open to all members. Please let Sean know

you are coming: president@downsyndromecommunity.org,

425-228-3391.

September 7, 7-9pm, Pacific Market Center

November 2, 7-9pm, Pacific Market Center

January 4, 7-9pm, Pacific Market Center

Puget Sound Buddy Walk

October 3, 1-4pm, Seattle Center

buddywalk@downsyndromecommunity.org or 425-681-2957

Here it comes! We’re always looking for volunteers and spon-

sors. Let us know as soon as possible how you can help make

this our best Buddy Walk ever!

Camp Prime Time with the DSC

September 17-19, registration closed

Gift Wrap Day

December 12, Pacific Place Mall, Downtown Seattle

Holiday Party

December 18, Community Center at Mercer View,

Mercer Island

Sweetheart Dance

February19, 2011 Highland Community Center, Bellevue

World Down Syndrome Day

March 21, 2011

DSC Conference 2011

To be announced

Nick Kappes,

Finance Committee Chair

Lynne Palmisano,

Buddy Walk Chair

Dan Hartung

Sue Hartung

Jennifer Mullis,

Self Advocate

Scott Rutledge

Laurel Sturges

Upcoming Events

Board of Directors

Sean King, President president@downsyndrome

community.org

Louise Avery, Vice President,

Community Relations Liaison dsc_relations@comcast.net

Carla Snyder, Secretary

Curtis Thelin, Treasurer treasurer@downsyndrome

community.org

Anne Mullis, Recording Secretary,

Conference Committee Chair