CAMRY DEAN
Staff Writer
April is National Autism Awareness Month, and this year, HAIL! Fredonia Records has planned its second annual event to benefit the Institute for Autism Research (IAR) at Canisius College.
This Sunday, April 23, the on-campus record label is hosting a dog walk to raise money for the IAR.
The Institute for Autism Research at Canisius is a research center dedicated to working towards the understanding of autism and autism spectrum disorders. The center also works with individuals on the autism spectrum.
Last year in recognition of National Autism Awareness Month, HAIL! Fredonia Records recorded and released Cassandra Kubinski’s “Not So Different” with Kubinski, Fredonia alumnus Mary Ramsey of the 10,000 Maniacs and John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls.
Following the success of last year, HAIL! is hosting the Lend-A-Paw dog walk starting at 1 p.m. along Ring Road on campus.
Students, faculty and community members are encouraged to bring their dogs for an hour-long walk around campus, and you don’t have to bring a dog in order to participate and support the event.
Although you can register at the ticket office up until the event, day-of registration begins at noon on the day of under the clock tower until the walk begins at 1 p.m. Tickets cost $20.
Following the event, there will be a reception at the outdoor amphitheater with a doggy kissing booth, food, raffles and live music from The Guerrillas, Ayden Wickman, Deanna Quinn and Timothy Mitchum.
Through connections of individuals at the record label, Walmart has donated 600 hot dogs and hamburgers and rolls for the reception, while Kraft Foods has donated cheese and condiments.
“That’s what’s been the most amazing about this,” Leah Wacienga, a senior music industry and audio/radio production major and product manager for HAIL! said. “We all have our connections, connections that have been a blessing.”
The record label has also been blown away by the interest and the promotion of the event. The event has a strong social media presence, and students who live in Buffalo have been returning home to hang fliers.
“People are actually hearing about it,” Virginia Croft, senior music industry and applied music major and head of the writing team for HAIL!, said.
New Directions, a group for children who are on the autism spectrum from Buffalo, has even reached out to the record label and asked if they could bring a group of their students to the event.
“[The group] heard about the event and they asked if there was any way they could get a group together to come up and, of course, we said yes,” Madi Lisker, junior music industry and economics major, said.
The event even has ads running on Buffalo radio stations, and Wacienga and Aidan Licker, senior audio/radio production major and product manager for HAIL!, were on WBBV-TV in Buffalo on Tuesday to promote the event.
All of the money raised by ticket sales and at the reception will go directly to the IAR, and even if you can’t make the walk, it’s still encouraged that you attend the reception, which begins at 5 p.m.
“We’re hoping for a huge attendance at the reception as well,” Wacienga said. “Regardless if you registered or bought a ticket, just come and get food and buy some basket raffle tickets.”
Today, the record label will be tabling in McEwen Hall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and tomorrow, April 20, the table will be in front of Cranston Marché. On Saturday, April 22, the group will have a table outside of Walmart from noon to 4 p.m. Tickets are available at the ticket office until the day of the event.
At the table, the campus community is encouraged to buy a $1 puzzle piece to support the cause.