Sunday we were at my Mom's house and kept hearing a steam whistle. She lives near the railroad tracks, but this one was off in the distance. Jonathan being a huge train lover wanted to go find the steamie. We ended up here . Jonathan absolutely loved it, although the steam whistle up close was a little much for him. Also going on was a classic car show. Within the past 4 months Jonathan has become so anxious about knowing every car name, especially when we are driving. The car show made it very easy for me to name them since there was an announcer. Reaaly wish that announcer was with me in the car sometimes to call out ones I miss.

Tomorrow is a big day for us. We are headed to Hershey Park. Jonathan was very excited to find out today about the trip. I showed him numerous youtube POV (point of view) videos of the roller coasters he could ride. He was estatic. When we take our trips to amusement parks we found out that our doctor could give us a letter that we take to the customer relations people who in turn give us a special pass for Jonathan. The pass allows for Jonathan to enter through the exit and get on the rides first. I will let you know how the day went tomorrow evening, only worry is too much vestibular stimulation.


And finally a very huge and grateful thank you for those who have donated.

Paperwork from the IRS came to the house on Saturday. Went by the bank this morning and have his fund officially setup The info on it is :

Commerce Bank
5032 Simpson Ferry Road
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
account # is 537477341
Account is listed under Service Dog for Jonathan Calabrese

Thank you everyone for listening to our story and donations. I will post this evening about our weekend at Williams Grove Speedway for the Steam engine gathering they had.

Saturday my wife woke up feeling horrible. AS the day progressed she got worse and worse. Earlier in the day Jonathan and I went to my office and the volunteer fire department from Penbrook was chopping up and old state body we had here. They had their fire truck here so Jonathan for about an hour took a personalized tour of the fire engine. He was in heaven. As for my wife she asked that I take her to the hospital. So I loaded up Jonathan and all his new toys (got a little construction set from Rite Aid on Saturday morning) and headed off to the hospital. She ended up having a kidney infection as well as pneumonia. I couldn't have asked for a better behaved little guy than Jonathan that day. He was awesome, we played construction site on the counter for hours. We watched a little bit of drag racing as he loves cars on the TV. He also took good care of my wife by pulling up a chair on wheels and stating he was the doctor. He didn't want to leave her side. Eventually around 7Pm I got him to go with me to the local Taco bell to get something to eat, I knew he had to have been hingry since we plowed through our Oreo cakesters that we had brought along as a snack. About the time we had gotten back from our food stop they were ready to discharge my wife. She really was a trooper and I was proud of both her and Jonathan. As a special treat for him being so great on Saturday we took him to Toys R'Us to get a planet Hero action figure. He was pumped so we got the high end model spaceship. All and all it was a great weekend except for my wife getting sick. I had forgotten to mention that Friday we also took a trip to Lake Tobias after his speech therapy session, he was on his game that day as for the first time they gave him a certificate for being so well behaved. His favorite partof Lake Tobias was feeding the bison as they come right up to the bus which is a school bus with the top cut off. Still waiting for our paperwork from the IRS to get our fund setup, hopefully it is here this week.

My wife had to take Jonathan to the dentist this morning. We thought he might have a cavity because he was biting on things. He can not tell us if he does, but he responded yes when we asked if his mouth hurt. SO for the first time ever he went back with the hygentist today all by himself. Turns out he was getting his 5 year old molars and he was very excited t learn that he was growing a new tooth. He named his new tooth special.

Went and met with our bank on Friday. I setup an EIN number with the girl there. Once we get confirmation back from the IRS that our correct EIN was what was given to us online, we can setup our fund for Jonathan. I am very excited to keep the ball moving forward on our project. We are looking to try and do a poker run on the 27th of October. This date was set aside because living in Penn State country I wanted to have as many people here while not interfering with their home games. As I get more details of putting this together I will keep everyone informed.

Saturday night we had to spend in the hospital ER with Jonathan. He has been diagnosed with Encopresis. Basically he has hard stool and doesn't like going to the bathroom. Unfortunately he was so backed up that even enemas were having no effect on him. The doctor had to go and digitally remove the matter. It hurts so much to see him in so much pain. But this was the best thing for him after seeing the X-Ray and seeing all the matter in his colon. He is feeling great again and I hope that with making some dietary changes we never ever have to go through that again. Nothing like having a wide awake child at 2AM. I was glad Taco Bell was open because he was starving after having the fecal matter removed.

Today when I am done working, I am going to meet with the bank to finally get this fund set up for Jonathan. Hopefully it is a very easy process to do with the bank. I'm very excited to keep on moving forward.

Today I got a call from my local bank here. What was stated to me was that for me to setup a fund for Jonathan I would need to apply for an EIN number via the IRS website. Something just doesn't seem right to me about that, I could be totally wrong though. However they were adamant, that I needed to do that. So I'm asking if anyone has ever setup a fund, is this the correct steps? Please leave me a comment or email me at ratsafari@gmail.com.

Joey

Frustrated. Saturday I talked to the banking people and was told that Jason would call me on Monday. I gave him numbers in which to get a hold of me. No call. I figure he might be busy. I call this morning and get his voicemail, give the same numbers, again no call. I'm trying and trying.

Someone suggested to me about doing a poker run . Sounds very interesting to me. I will have to do some research and see what is involved in it.

Forgot the pictures I have of Jonathan this morning to take to work so I can scan them. Unfortunately I do not own a digital camera.

For those who don't know about Autism, please check out this site for some reading.

Oh and if anyone wants to email me any questions please feel free to do so at ratsafari@gmail.com.

Joey

We received our first donation today. I am eternally grateful to the Mountaineer Nation for the way they have responded to our son. I honestly do not think I can say Thank you enough times. Blue and Gold News forums

This morning I was testing things out with Pay Pal. I now have a link put up for pay pay donations. As of right now the Pay Pal donations just go into our general account. Once I get a fund setup I than can transfer funds to that account. So in a nut shell, we are now taking donations. Anything is greatly appreciated. Later on I hope to get some photos of Jonathan uploaded.

Today we took the first step in the process of setting up a fund for Jonathan. I headed over to Commerce Bank to sit down with someone about what my first step was. Bad day to do it, which I had assumed, figuring most people would be working the normal 9-5 M-F. The girl however was nice enough to take my name and number and promised to have the gentleman who is in charge of such programs give me a call on Monday. AT least it feels like I am moving in the right direction.

Yesterday we had an appointment with Susquehanna Service Dogs about the possibility of receiving a service dog for our son Jonathan. Jonathan has autism, a neurological condition that affects almost every facet of his life. While researching different interventions, we discovered that service dogs are being used more and more frequently, to help children and adults who have autism and other similar disabilities. The meeting went great, Jonathan was a changed little boy in the presence of the two dogs. It was simply amazing to both me and my wife. We were told that it cost between $17-$20,000 to train these dogs for the services that they do. I about fell over in my chair. It was then explained to us that we as a family would be responsible for $5,000 of the fee. I didn't quite fall that far out of my chair that time. With grants that we were told that can take up a year, another $4,500 would be paid for leaving us to pay $500. The problem is the time frame. The way I saw Jonathan's face light up and his attitude change, I decided right then and there that we would raise the $5,000 as fast as possible. This is where the next chapter of our lives take us. Raising funds.