Holly Robinson-Peete and son RJ,13, walked for autism at the 10th Annul Walk Now for Autism Speaks event held in Pasadena, California on Saturday, April 21, 2012. The two joined thousands of participants wanting a spread awareness about the disorder that silences hundreds of children every year. Holly and her son served as motivation to participants at the Rose Bowl. Holly and husband Rodney Peete recently opened a free autism center that allows parents to access information about the disorder and receive the support needed to help their kids thrive.

As the mother of a child living with autism Holly knows it can be difficult to sift through information that seems foreign in language. “It’s still very confusing,” Holly states, “[but] we have some pretty great organizations that can guide you. Autism Speaks is one of them. They have 100-day kits for the first 100 days after a diagnosis for what you can do. And they have a lot of community resources and a database on their website. You have organizations like ours, HollyRod, which gives compassionate care to families. We’re working really hard to erect a compassionate care center where families can go. Hopefully that will be the model that can spread across the country. The one I look at as the Holy Grail is St. Jude, where families can go and deal with their children’s cancer without having to worry about paying for it. Where is the St. Jude for autism? That’s in my sights, doing something like that.”

Website: HollyRod.org