Autistic Boy Funds Research with Holiday Cards

Just one greeting card benefiting
autism research.

MADISON, Wis.-- Giizhik Klawiter has never been so much as a visitor to the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Waisman Center, but the 10-year-old boy with autism from Hayward, Wis., is one of the most faithful supporters of the center's developmental disabilities research.
For four years, Giizhik's mother, Pam Miller, has visited Walmart, the casino, grocery stores and craft fairs to sell Christmas cards designed by Giizhik (whose name means "white cedar" in Ojibwe) and his brother Mino (short for Minode'e, loosely "has a kind heart").
"So far we've been able to donate about $5,600 with the cards, and from the start we wanted that money to go to research," Miller says. "I know it's important for families like us to have other things — support and services — but I wanted to help research, so that we'd keep learning about autism."