A gift of $500,000 to QuickStart Autism is personal for John Sicard and his wife Pina, who have two sons, Alex and Nicholas.
Their youngest son, Nicholas, now 30, was diagnosed with autism and the family witnessed firsthand the benefits of early intervention.
So when the Sicard family crossed paths with Suzanne Jacobson, president and founder of QuickStart Autism, many years ago, her personal journey resonated with them.
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Jacobson had noticed many early signs of autism in her grandson Alex, age four at the time, and became concerned with a lack of early intervention. In 2008, she founded QuickStart, an organization focused on early diagnostic assessment support, workshops and a parent respite program.
“I have known Suzanne for a long time and I trust her,” said Sicard. “Pina and I know that a gift like this will allow Suzanne to scale QuickStart and provide for consistent assistance so she can do more and help more families. We love what she is doing.”
Yesterday, the donation was announced at the Autumn Evening for Autism event to benefit QuickStart. The event took place at NeXT restaurant, where chef Michael Blackie treated guests to a delicious menu.
“I was speechless when I heard,” said Jacobson. “It took a bit to process. I was overwhelmed and I thanked them for their trust in me and QuickStart Autism so we can move forward and help so many more families … This is significant for our charity.”
In his role as president and CEO at Ottawa-based Kinaxis, Sicard created an autism program, with a goal to have one per cent of the workforce composed of people with autism. Sicard shared Thursday that close to two per cent of the Kinaxis team are now people with autism.
“Early intervention with an organization like QuickStart is key and we were lucky enough with our son Nicholas that he received some early intervention,” said Sicard. “To me, early intervention is the difference between a person on the spectrum growing up and getting their own driver’s licence, or not. Or being on the spectrum and growing up to publish a book, like Nicholas did.”
