Walk for Children with Autism raises more than $25,000
The St. Pierre family organized the event

to raise awareness.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

BRUNSWICK – Jean St. Pierre has heard it takes a village to raise a child. On Saturday, St. Pierre says, that village showed up.

St. Pierre, a Jay native, recently moved to Brunswick with his wife, Melissa, and his two sons, Matthew, 6, and Jared, 4, so that Jared could attend a school for autistic children in Freeport.

The school is the May Center for Childhood Development, a facility that prepares young students, ages 2 to 8 years old, who have autism, mental retardation, developmental disabilities and other special health-care needs, for the public school sector.

After seeing the transformation Jared made with the help of the staff at May, including learning to respond to his name, using sign language and communicating with gestures, Jean decided it was time to give back.

So, he organized the first-ever Walk for Children with Autism, a five-mile jaunt held in Brunswick this past Saturday.

When Jean says the village showed up with their walking shoes on their feet and money in their hands, he isn’t joking. In addition to his family members, about 40 of whom walked, Jean estimates more than 40 other people from the Jay and Livermore Falls area participated.

Those who couldn’t make the trek to Brunswick, like students at Livermore Falls High School, held a hat day and donated the proceeds, $170, to the walk.

In total, nearly 250 people walked and more than $25,000 was raised, with donations still rolling in.

“In all my 30 years, Saturday was one of the best days I’ve ever spent,” said Jean. “I walked away with a feeling we had accomplished more than I had ever imagined.”

What was more important to Jean was the awareness the event raised. He said the biggest success was that a woman with an autistic child called the May Center and asked for help. All of the money raised in the walk will stay at the Freeport school, with half of the money going toward operation costs and the remainder going to buy playground equipment, computers and special supplies for children like Jared, said director Denise Gobeil.

“I think it’s wonderful,” she said about the success of the walk. “It was such a nice surprise. It was just amazing that Jean pulled it off as well as he did. We owe him a lot.”

Ever humble, Jean just won’t take the credit, instead turning it over to his family.

His brother Tom and his sister-in-law Karen, who own Al’s Tire Center in Jay, donated $1 from every oil change to the walk and also collected donations. They raised $1,023.

“It was very rewarding, the response we got,” Karen said. “It’s nice to do something for a cause like that, but especially when the cause hits so close to home. When we need to, we all pull together. That’s what family is for.”

Jean’s sister, Ida Barker, raised $967 on her own, thanks to a $500 donation from G.H. Bass and lots of gracious co-workers in the Jay School System.

“It was awesome, really wonderful,” Barker said of the local showing, adding she wasn’t surprised.

“I wouldn’t expect any less from my family. We like to do things big when we do them,” she added.

For more information about the May Center or autism, log on to www.mayinstitute.org.

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