The National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) NYC Buddy Walk is back this year on Saturday, September 9, and Hope is yet again being featured in Times Square!! I can’t believe it!! Thanks to your generous contributions last year, your continued enthusiasm in supporting Hope in energy and spirit, and your commitment to maintaining the forward momentum of the Down syndrome community, Hope’s sweet, goofy smile will briefly and surreally be on display in a slideshow airing on the Jumbotron that morning before we head up to Central Park for the actual walk and festivities. NDSS believes in us and our loving circle of family and friends (that’s you!!), and we believe in them and their initiatives.

Our team name this year is “We Need a Little Hope,” a name I absolutely love for how it can be mixed around into so many different meanings. We need Hope. We need hope. Hope is little, and she won’t be little for much longer, so let’s celebrate this moment in time.

There are a few ways you can have a direct impact on our effort this year:

1. Join our team!! If you register by Friday, August 11, NDSS guarantees you will receive your walk t-shirt in time for September 9^th.
2. Make a donation. I can absolutely promise you that the hard-earned money you are choosing to displace to NDSS goes to every last corner of need that the Down syndrome community seeks—that Hope and her friends benefit from directly—from medical to social to education to local/state/federal policy. All of it.
3. Forward this post to someone who might be interested in helping, whether that be a friend, a family member, or a colleague. With 6,000 babies born every year in the United States with Down syndrome, I’d almost guarantee that whether they know it or not, someone close by is benefiting from NDSS research and initiatives as much as we are. I’d like to think it’s all about Hope, but man, it’s so much more than that.

I didn’t know how reciprocal a relationship we’d have with NDSS until I reached out for guidance after Hope was restrained in her preschool in December 2020; the bond we’ve forged since then is strong. And I’m not just asking you to help, but I’m also here to share that we are doing our part as well.

In addition to our participating in multiple fundraising efforts throughout the year, I’ve committed to being an NDSS DS-Ambassador, which is a volunteer, non-employee role that uses a grassroots method to advocate on multiple levels for the needs of the Down syndrome community. I’ll share more when I have a better grasp on what I’m doing, but the gist is that the voice I’ve been searching for since Hope’s school abuse is finally taking shape, and I wouldn’t be where I am without the exquisite people at NDSS. I wouldn’t be here without you and your unrelenting support for Hope. For hope.

As you can see, our little family is all-in with NDSS. So…would you like to come hang with us in NYC for a day?

[The following is a slideshow, which might not display in e-mail. Please click through for some little gems from last year’s NYC Buddy Walk.]