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Miles and Smiles for Hadley started in 2021 and was going to be a small event to raise awareness for Down Syndrome and raise a little money to help families that have children with special needs. Due to the timing of the first event being during COVID most people walked virtually and a few of us gathered at the HVRHS track to walk together. 

Shortly after the event in 2021, Hadley’s sister Elsy was diagnosed with Autism. Elsy was nonverbal autistic until a couple months ago when she started talking. She is now chatting up a storm and we love it!  

Since 2021, Miles and Smiles for Hadley has been able to help numerous families in the tristate area that have children with special needs. Some examples of things we were able to help with are gas cards to help with traveling to doctors’ visits, swimming lessons, classroom supplies, gift cards for families to purchase clothing, helping with car repairs, fuel assistance, utilities, Christmas presents and so much more. 

The main goal for Miles and Smiles for Hadley was to be able to help families like other organizations helped Hadley’s family. When Hadley was born, she spent 46 days in the hospital and then in 2020 she had heart surgery. During this time local organization gave money to Jim and Cristi to help with the cost of gas, medical bills and other items.  This helped alleviate the part of the financial stress for them. We want to be able to do this for other families.