Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of South Charlotte.
Good Neighbor Podcast South Charlotte
Ep. # 127 Beyond Labels: Autism Strong's Mission to Support Families Now
"You saved my family, you saved my marriage." These words, whispered by a grateful father to Rudy Thoms, crystallized the purpose behind Autism Strong—a foundation born not from ambition, but necessity.
When Rudy and Becky Thoms' son Landon was diagnosed with severe nonverbal autism nearly 16 years ago, they never imagined their personal struggle would transform into a movement that would help thousands of families. What began as questioning "why us?" evolved into a clear mission: supporting families facing the overwhelming financial burdens of autism therapy.
Unlike national organizations focused primarily on research, Autism Strong meets families where they are today. They provide direct financial assistance for critical therapies—occupational, speech, physical, and applied behavioral analysis—paying providers directly on behalf of families caught in an impossible position: making too much for Medicaid but still struggling to afford care. With remarkable efficiency, 94 cents of every donated dollar flows back into the community, helping families who might otherwise choose between paying bills or providing therapy.
From a single CrossFit fundraiser to multiple signature events—including their recent Hope Strong Gala that raised $680,000 with 750 attendees—Autism Strong has expanded throughout the Carolinas. Their programs create judgment-free spaces where special needs families find both resources and community, combating the isolation many experience. As Rudy poignantly observes, "While Landon is nonverbal, meaning he cannot speak, his voice is louder than ever."
With autism now affecting 1 in 36 American children, the need has never been greater. Visit autismstrongorg to volunteer, donate, or apply for assistance, and join a movement that proves how profound purpose can emerge from personal challenge.
Autism Strong Foundation
Rudy Thoms
9935-D Rea Road Suite 253
Charlotte, NC 28277
704-981-2740
Email: hello@autismstrong.org
autismstrong.org
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Regina Lee.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today I am so happy to be talking with Rudy Thoms. He and his wife Becky I had the pleasure of meeting a few weeks ago and they are the founders of Autism Strong, based here in Charlotte. How are you, rudy?
Speaker 3:I'm doing great. How are you?
Speaker 2:Good, good. You have a beautiful family and I so enjoyed meeting you guys and all your fur babies. My goodness, you have a full household, a busy household, I sure do, yeah. Yeah well, let's get started and dive into Autism Strong, and let's start with what is your why.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I never woke up one day and said, hey, I want to run a non-profit. That wasn't in my life plan. And it also wasn't in my life plan to have a son with severe nonverbal autism. Both of them just happened. And they happened, obviously, um, with landon being diagnosed now it's going back almost 16 years ago, so it's been a while and for a long time I questioned why, you know why. And then ultimately, when we started trying to raise awareness to autism, it just organically happened where we felt like we were called to do something better and called to use Landon's story for good and ultimately that's where Autism Strong was born.
Speaker 2:Well, your website has just an amazing video. So heartfelt in the journey and you know it's super amazing what you guys are doing. So share with us what the mission of the foundation is and what you guys actually provide.
Speaker 3:Yeah, great question. The mission of Autism Strong is to provide resources for families that are struggling with an autism diagnosis. Okay, well, what does that mean? A lot of big national nonprofits survey more of a long-term plan planning purpose, where they might put a lot of their money into research, which is great and it's important as we look at research and finding what's causing autism, helping look at long-term planning for autism, where our foundation meets families where they are today. So what does that actually mean? A lot of families are struggling with paying for their co-pays, paying for things like ot, occupational therapy, speech therapy, pt or aba therapy, which is applied behavioral analysis, which is the most intense autism therapy. They have to choose between paying their power bill or getting their child therapy. So we actually financially help those families through our scholarship programs. That's where about 70% of our money goes directly into paying for therapy for children. We don't ever pay the families directly. We pay the therapy centers on behalf of the families.
Speaker 2:Okay, so are you partnering with certain people that do this? Is that how it works?
Speaker 3:We are. Yeah, Ultimately there's a lot of different OT, PT, ABA centers around the Charlotte or the Carolinas area that ultimately they will send folks to us that are applying for scholarships and the family has to actually fill out a scholarship application and ultimately our board reviews those at the end of the um, the scholarship opening, and then we grant those scholarships so what are you looking for in that application?
Speaker 2:how do you make your decision?
Speaker 3:yeah, no, it's a great question we do require, like w-2s, and ultimately what we want to do is, you know, know there's folks that are on the Medicaid right the Medicaid it's covered for those but the vast majority are above that Medicaid poverty line. So when you think about it, you're talking about, you know, a mom or a family that has two kids and they, you know, might make $80,000 a year and they're having to choose, right, how do I afford therapy and also pay the bills and what have you? So we're looking for families that really are in need right, and so our board has been unbelievable at really helping raise money so we can support more and more families. Just this past year, we crossed over. We're now in the thousands of families that we've helped here in the last 10 years, which is just fantastic.
Speaker 2:What is the most challenging part of you know? When you launch this and and keeping it going?
Speaker 3:um, that's a great question. The most challenging part for me is just getting our name out there and more awareness, because if you look at your big national brand company, they typically will have support big national nonprofits which, once again, if you go back to where a lot of their money goes, it goes into research and long-term goals, where a lot of families are struggling today. So, getting more awareness, getting in front of the right people to say, hey, we're supporting local families today, how can we partner together and we've been blessed to work with companies like Lennar, like Chote, which are local companies that have learned about our mission and said you know, we want to stand shoulder to shoulder with you, we want to help the local families today. Once again, those big natural nonprofits serve a good long term purpose, but when families are struggling today, awareness is a big piece. How do we get in front of these folks so they can actually see what we're doing?
Speaker 2:Do you have volunteers that have? There's not autism in their life, but yet they have the heart to serve.
Speaker 3:Oh, 1000%. We are. My wife and I never take credit for this. This is 100%. The we've been successful due to folks that have come along shoulder to shoulder with us on this journey that may not even have a child with autism. They just love what we're doing, love our mission, and I mean I can't tell you the countless number of volunteers that have, whether they've been just a volunteer or they served on their board. That may not even have a personal connection to autism, but they love what we do and they love that they can see it in local families. They love that they get to see the local families and see the impact or hear the impact at a gala or what have you. So, absolutely, we have been blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people.
Speaker 2:So talk about some of the fundraising events that you guys offer and run.
Speaker 3:Yeah for sure. We started off with just a CrossFit event. It was called AMRAP for Autism, which, for those that are not in CrossFit, which means as many reps as possible. For the first few years. That's all we did, and we gave actually all the money for the first three years to a big national nonprofit because we were just trying to raise awareness. What we found is my wife and I realized that folks weren't comfortable talking to us about our own son, so we just want to raise awareness. So for the first three years all we did was that one event a year and it was a CrossFit event.
Speaker 3:After that third year, we realized something was missing and, like I said, we were called to do something better and bigger, and that's when we started Autism Strong. Since then, we branched out, where we still do our AMRAP for Autism. Once again, it's still a staple event for us and we've now moved to doing things like Build Strong in the fall, which is a partnership with Choke Constructionoke Construction is an all day festival out in Symphony Park, usually in the October timeframe, where it's a festival for families that have children with special needs. Why is that important? Well, that's important because most families with special needs, a lot of times they feel alone, they feel isolated.
Speaker 3:They want to lay in store with their child with special needs, they feel different. This is a non-judge, it's a judgment-free zone and they can go there and they can be surrounded by folks that are walking a similar journey. So that's a big event. We do with choke instruction. Another event that we do in the um fall is angels for autism, which is a um a program that we do lennar homes, we do it with honeywell and we will support local families for the holiday season. We don't just support the child with autism, we support the entire family. So we work with the school system to identify those families that are truly in need and, regina, when I say they're in need, they're asking for things like socks, shoes, jackets and ultimately we have a team that works incredibly well to provide these and we actually hand deliver these gifts around the holidays.
Speaker 3:And then another big event that we do is our gala. So this past, you know about a few weeks ago we did our fourth annual Hope Strong galaala. It's a blue tie event for autism blue signifying autism and that is a great event and it's it's exactly what you expect from a gala, where you, you know, have live auction, silo auction, just a room full of people with their hearts wide open. We had 750 people in attendance just a few weeks ago. We raised $680,000. So it's just it's unbelievable. And then we do a lot of smaller events. So Connect Strong was one we just did a couple weeks ago. It was more of an informational conference, setting for families that are struggling with the diagnosis, need resources, so vendors come to share, you know, about whether it's therapy, whether it's about financial planning, whether it's about navigating the school system and the IEP. So that program was just actually just last weekend. So there's a lot of things that we do not only just on the fundraising side, but also on the on the educational and the resource side.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Landon is 17 now.
Speaker 3:He is. He turned 17 a couple weeks ago, lord knows.
Speaker 2:Wow, I know.
Speaker 3:And you started the foundation when In 2016 is when we got our IRS 501c3. We actually started in 2014 with those few events that we gave all the money to a larger national nonprofit, but we got accredited by the IRS with our own 501c3 in 2016. So it's crazy. It's been less than 10 years and in less than 10 years we have raised over $5 million for the local community.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. But what have you seen as far as awareness in autism in Landon and your journey and then since the foundation? I think you know all of us are way more aware now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean when, when Landon was diagnosed, I didn't know anything about autism, I didn't know anybody, and I think there has been, over the past 10 to 15 years, much more awareness. Now the diagnosis rate has gotten significantly worse, meaning we're now in one in 36 children have a diagnosis with autism in the US, one in 36. So think about that, think about a classroom size. But when we were growing up, right, you didn't hear about it. Right, you might have a special needs classroom. So the diagnosis has gotten wider. But also there's something going on that is causing more children to be diagnosed and I do know there's a lot of folks that are looking into that because there is so much more awareness to it, which is great. And that's where that long term and some of those things are really, really important to help us understand what is actually going on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you're right. I didn't even know it existed and really didn't understand it. So what you guys are doing is amazing. What is the most rewarding part of you and Becky's journey with this foundation?
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. I love this question because, as I alluded to earlier, for a long time, you know, both Beck and I are we walk in our faith and I will tell you. We question why God? Why our son? And then the second that I hugged the family of our first scholarship recipient.
Speaker 3:I remember the father leaned into me, he leaned into my ear and he said you saved my family, you saved my marriage. And as I was man, as I was walking away from that, it clicked. I automatically knew why Atlanta was put my life. It wasn't so much for us, for Beck and I, it was to share his story to help other families. So that's probably the most gratifying is, while Landon is nonverbal, meaning he cannot speak, his voice is a little louder than ever?
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that. What are some of the misconceptions that you're finding with autism?
Speaker 3:The biggest misconception is that it's curable. You know, hey, I can just cure them, no problem, you just do this. And you know, even with insurance companies, there are absolutely children with autism that get better, and that's where that intensive therapy can help them cope with the things that are going on with them. Or they can learn to go from non-verbal to verbal, which is huge right, and they can grow within their diagnosis, um, or they outgrow autism is another way that you hear is, oh, they'll outgrow it and what have you? Um, those are pretty misconceptions.
Speaker 3:And the last one is you know, when all all children with autism are the same, right, the saying is, really, when you meet a child with autism, you met one child with autism. They all have a lot of differences, um to you know what's, what's what they struggle with, and so, um, yeah, some of those misconceptions are where the awareness comes in, right, and, and ultimately we, we help family, one family at a time, right with exactly what they're needing. Is it speech, is it OT, is it PT, and things of that nature.
Speaker 2:Right, so amazing. So for our listeners, how far out do you guys reach to help those families?
Speaker 3:Yeah, we started just in, you know, the Charlotte area and then we branched out to the surrounding counties. We are now working in the Asheville area. We're working in the Raleigh area. So we are expanding and that's been also just at the having folks come along for us on the journey. Folks in Asheville had said hey, raising their hand, say I want to help. Same thing in Raleigh hey, I want want to help. I love what you guys are doing. How do we expand this? So currently we're in just north and south Carolina.
Speaker 3:We obviously do have plans to expand. We want that to be very organic. One of the things that me, as the board president, is very focused on is we want the vast majority of the money to go back into the community. So we want to organically grow. But we also don't want to have a whole bunch of staff because then it dilutes how much I was actually getting back into the environment right now or back in the community right now. 94 cents of every dollar that someone gives to us goes right back into me 94 cents there's not a lot of non-profits that can even come close to that that is amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, uh, it is such a pleasure to speak with you, rudy, and I absolutely loved meeting you, your wife, alyssa, landon and addison. What a beautiful family and how many fur babies are in your house refreshments, total.
Speaker 3:Um. So we have five foster puppies downstairs, a foster mom, we have six cats of our own, two dogs of our own, so our house is always full of chaos, which I love. Um, yeah, I love the fact that these puppies are kind of learning and they're being raised around kind of cats, dogs, special needs, a lot of loud noises, right Stuff like that, so they actually become the best pets because they're really not afraid of anything and they've been kind of. These puppies have been raised around cats, right, and they've been around bigger dogs and so it's been great. So we have a lot.
Speaker 2:Well, they're also raised around a lot of love. That's what I noticed.
Speaker 3:That's for sure. A lot of love.
Speaker 2:Well, they're also raised around a lot of love, that's for sure. A lot of love. Well, thank you so much. And lastly, how do our listeners find you guys, whether they want to contribute, support or apply?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so the easiest way to find us is just autismstrongorg, and that is our website. That is where you'll'll find applications, whether you want to apply for a grant or a scholarship, or whether you want to get involved with us as a volunteer. You can see all our events listed. I will tell you. Um, if you're thinking about it, say yes, because that is the one of the best things to do is to reach your hand out and help someone that's in need, and we need more volunteers. We are one. We we get to 94 cents of every dollar going back in the community because we rely on volunteers to help us. We would not and I repeat, would not be where we are without our, our just hundreds of volunteers that have given their time, um, and so I want to say thank you to them, because we absolutely would not be where we are today.
Speaker 3:We would not have been able to raise over $5 million to help thousands of families if it wasn't for the volunteers, so autismstrong. org is the best way to get a hold of us.
Speaker 2:Rudy, thank you so much for joining us today. You bet.
Speaker 3:Thanks, Regina.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. No-transcript.