Emergency housing is available for hurricane victims with autism and their families.  We need help locating these families in the evacuation shelters to let them know that help is available to them.

If you are near the affected area and can take some time to visit the shelters and help locate autistic children and their families, please email wendy@nationalautism.org as soon as possible or call toll-free 866-622-6733.  The Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security are working now to get clearance for our volunteer network to get into the shelters.

NAA is focusing its resources on relocating displaced families to Camp Yocona in Toccopola, MS.  The camp can accommodate up to 350 people in cabins that can sleep up to 8 people each. Each group of 4-5 cabins has a bathhouse. A large commercial kitchen and dining hall is available and a volunteer will be staffing the kitchen to prepare meals including gluten and casein free options for children on restricted diets.

"The camp will provide a healing environment for parents and children alike, offering a place of solace and shelter while the families regroup and decide where to go from here," commented Pickering who is coordinating this effort.

Anyone with information on families of children with developmental disabilities needing shelter as a result of the hurricane and its aftermath are asked to contact the National Autism Association toll free at 866-622-6733, or Peg Pickering at 662-488-9619.

Tax-deductible donations to assist with this effort can be made online at http://www.nationalautismassociation.org/proddetail.php?prod=Katrina 

Checks can be mailed to:
First United Methodist Church of Pontotoc
Good Samaritan Autism Fund
P.O. Box 308
Pontotoc, MS 38863