From My Heart to Yours, an autism awareness group based in Navarre, recently received a $1,839.64 donation from Alyssa’s antique store in Pace.
Customers of the store can opt to round up their purchases, and the monies are donated to local charities.
Randy Moyse, who founded From My Heart to Yours for his grandson, Ethan, accepted the check.
“We will be helping many Autism families locally,” said Moyse, who wanted to build a foundation which someday Ethan, who is affected by autism, may want to take over.
Moyse lives on Navarre Beach and collects seashells – lots of them. “I’ve amassed over 10,000, and I thought maybe I can use unique ones to make necklaces.” He had the idea to sell the custom crafted shell necklaces for the foundation. “Since the necklace rests on your heart, a light came on and ‘From My Heart to Yours’ was born.”
Moyse said he quickly learned as much as he could about what the needs of families affected by Autism.
“Two things stood out to me. First thing I noticed was nonverbal kids were using an iPad at school which had an app with symbols for communicating to teachers,” he said. “Many families can’t afford the technology used for this and were left without a tool (at home) to speak to their kids or vice versa.”
So Moyse decided to buy iPads for students to have at home, putting shock proof and tempered glass on them, and loading them with the app from school with which they are already familiar.
“Imagine for the first time having your son or daughter tap a heart symbol of ‘I love you’,” Moyse said.
Secondly, the Foundation aims to provide respite for parents in the future. “We are developing that concept now,” he said.
