{"id":41924,"date":"2017-09-27T17:23:56","date_gmt":"2017-09-27T23:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=41924"},"modified":"2017-09-27T17:23:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-27T23:23:56","slug":"october-brings-awareness-to-down-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/october-brings-awareness-to-down-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"October Brings Awareness to Down Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

Down Syndrome Awareness Month<\/strong> is celebrated nationally throughout the month of October.\u00a0 <\/span>In North Mississippi<\/strong>, the annual Buddy Walk<\/strong> in Oxford<\/strong> has proven to be an event greatly supported by community members throughout Lafayette County<\/strong> and beyond.\u00a0 <\/span>Oxford\u2019s fourth Buddy Walk will take place at the Old Armory Pavilion<\/strong> on Sunday, October 15 at 1 p.m.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat started out as a pie-in-the-sky idea has turned out to be a wonderful fundraiser for our organization,\u201d said 21 United of Mississippi<\/strong> president Scott Thompson<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWe have done some pretty cool things with the money raised, and we have a big announcement about future plans when everyone gathers for the walk.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Two years ago, 21 United organized a summer camp for Down syndrome families.\u00a0 <\/span>Money earned at Buddy Walk events has provided partial and full camp scholarships for all participants.\u00a0 <\/span>The summer camp, held at Camp Hopewell<\/strong>, gives children an opportunity to enjoy typical camp activities while parents take time for networking and educational sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Thompson, the summer camp is a welcome break for all participants.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cBecause of health issues related to Down syndrome, individuals spend countless hours in multiple therapies.\u00a0 <\/span>Our buddies work so hard to improve fine and gross motor skills as well as language skills, and parents spend a vast amount of time getting their children to and from therapies and doctor appointments.\u00a0 <\/span>Summer camp allows campers to take part in typical camp experiences while parents network, play games with their children and have someone else cook for a change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sunday afternoon event will start at 1:00 p.m.\u00a0 <\/span>Music will be provided by DJ Sammy Kim<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/span>In addition to the walk and music, the event will include food and beverages, bounce houses, face painting, kids\u2019 games, a photo booth, petting zoo, fire trucks and police cruisers and a t-shirt for all participants.\u00a0 <\/span>The walk will start at the Old Armory Pavilion and go to Oxford Junior High School<\/strong> and back.<\/span><\/p>\n

Registration for the 2017 walk has begun and is $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 13 and under.\u00a0 <\/span>Buddy Walk friends with special needs may participate for free.\u00a0 <\/span>Online registration is open, and participants are encouraged to pre-register at www.21united.org<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

21 United of Mississippi is a nonprofit organization that advocates for the inclusion, value and acceptance of individuals with Down syndrome.\u00a0\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Down Syndrome Awareness Month is celebrated nationally throughout the month of October.\u00a0 In North Mississippi, the annual Buddy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":261,"featured_media":41956,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7803],"tags":[11007,11004,11009,11008,11005,11006,256,3818,11011,4,11012,11010],"class_list":["post-41924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-charity-events","tag-21-united-of-mississippi","tag-buddy-walk","tag-camp-hopewell","tag-dj-sammy-kim","tag-down-syndrome","tag-down-syndrome-awareness","tag-lafayette-county","tag-north-mississippi","tag-old-armory-pavilion","tag-oxford","tag-oxford-junior-high-school","tag-scott-thompson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/2017-09-25-Syndrome-Awareness.jpg?fit=620%2C349&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/261"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}