About Us
Read Reece’s Story in His Own Words
I am a 25-year-old non-verbal autistic who communicates via typing. For 19 years, I was trapped inside a nightmare, fully capable of understanding the world around me, yet unable to control my wayward body in order to transmit my thoughts. Blessed beyond belief by caring and supportive friends, professionals, aides, and family, I always had people around me who believed in me and encouraged me even as I struggled to help myself.
In November 2014, my family attended a communication workshop where I learned to harness my thoughts and purposefully connect to the letterboard. It is not as easy as it sounds, and there was much preparatory work involved, but that weekend my parents and supporters were stupefied and astounded as I literally hurdled the boundary from non-verbal to communicative! Although there was much work still ahead for me, it was at this time that I realized my dream of living a life that would mean so much more would be possible.
My greatest blessing is to be able to help others like myself grow to live a more purposeful life. As a founding member of the Every Voice Matters community in Atlanta, I have been amazed to watch our community of spellers grow to be one of the largest in the United States, dare I say even the World?!?! Specifically for non-speakers, garnering the ability to connect brain and body, and being able to coordinate the movements needed to spell our desires is quite frankly life changing. Once able to fully communicate, I soon began outlining a vision that would help myself and other autistics achieve an even greater version of themselves. I wanted to place of positivity and individualized programs specifically designed to work on purposeful body movements and neuro-connections. In March of 2018 with the help of my family, my dream of a center designed by an autistic for autistics became a reality and we opened ReClif – fitness based therapy center. I am thrilled that at ReClif, we have created a place where individuals like me can thrive.
After opening ReClif and connecting with so many in our community, I began to feel that there were even greater situations to address. In the fall of 2018, ReClif Community non-profit was created for this purpose. Offering fun, inclusive outings and events, cognitive focused activities, autism information and education for parents & professionals, and scholarship to ease the financial burden of autism we aim to provide specialized assistance to families impacted by autism.
The importance of ReClif and ReClif Community goes way beyond what I can explain in a paragraph. My mission is to change the conversation surrounding autism by empowering, accepting, supporting, and advocating for myself and others on the spectrum. Since 2017, I have been honored by amazing encouragement, humbled by support from friends near and far, and hungry to keep ReClif and ReClif Community on an upward trajectory. I have been blessed to have made strong connections with so many incredible comrades during my life and hope to continue to influence the lives of others through our work both at ReClif and ReClif Community.
I am a 25-year-old non-verbal autistic who communicates via typing. For 19 years, I was trapped inside a nightmare, fully capable of understanding the world around me, yet unable to control my wayward body in order to transmit my thoughts. Blessed beyond belief by caring and supportive friends, professionals, aides, and family, I always had people around me who believed in me and encouraged me even as I struggled to help myself.
In November 2014, my family attended a communication workshop where I learned to harness my thoughts and purposefully connect to the letterboard. It is not as easy as it sounds, and there was much preparatory work involved, but that weekend my parents and supporters were stupefied and astounded as I literally hurdled the boundary from non-verbal to communicative! Although there was much work still ahead for me, it was at this time that I realized my dream of living a life that would mean so much more would be possible.
My greatest blessing is to be able to help others like myself grow to live a more purposeful life. As a founding member of the Every Voice Matters community in Atlanta, I have been amazed to watch our community of spellers grow to be one of the largest in the United States, dare I say even the World?!?! Specifically for non-speakers, garnering the ability to connect brain and body, and being able to coordinate the movements needed to spell our desires is quite frankly life changing. Once able to fully communicate, I soon began outlining a vision that would help myself and other autistics achieve an even greater version of themselves. I wanted to place of positivity and individualized programs specifically designed to work on purposeful body movements and neuro-connections. In March of 2018 with the help of my family, my dream of a center designed by an autistic for autistics became a reality and we opened ReClif - fitness based therapy center. I am thrilled that at ReClif, we have created a place where individuals like me can thrive.
After opening ReClif and connecting with so many in our community, I began to feel that there were even greater situations to address. In the fall of 2018, ReClif Community non-profit was created for this purpose. Offering fun, inclusive outings and events, cognitive focused activities, autism information and education for parents & professionals, and scholarship to ease the financial burden of autism we aim to provide specialized assistance to families impacted by autism.
The importance of ReClif and ReClif Community goes way beyond what I can explain in a paragraph. My mission is to change the conversation surrounding autism by empowering, accepting, supporting, and advocating for myself and others on the spectrum. Since 2017, I have been honored by amazing encouragement, humbled by support from friends near and far, and hungry to keep ReClif and ReClif Community on an upward trajectory. I have been blessed to have made strong connections with so many incredible comrades during my life and hope to continue to influence the lives of others through our work both at ReClif and ReClif Community.
ReClif Community Mission
Your Contributions At Work
ReClif Community is entirely volunteer based and to date $0.68 of each $1.00 is directly distributed to the beneficiaries in the autism community.
The remaining $0.32 is used in Operational and Fundraising costs. With your help, we hope to continue pushing our distributions as close to 100% as possible.
DIRECTOR
Reece Blankenship
I honestly believe that the key to a happy and fulfilled life is to have a family and community that does things together and to have a body that is healthy and fit. My greatest desire is to help other autistics and their supporters enjoy events and activities while also becoming closer and more physically fit. When I was much younger, I worried that I may be limited because of my autism. Throughout my life, I have been blessed with caring family members and individuals who guided me and pushed me to succeed. Because of them, I have had many opportunities for testing physical prowess.
People should know that until age 19, I was unable to fully communicate my thoughts and emotions. It was only after learning to harness my body’s unruly ways at a communication workshop in November of 2014 that I was able to finally free my inner voice. This breakthrough has been in a word, astounding.
I am the visionary and inspiration of ReClif, LLC as well as ReClif Community non-profit. It is through the assistance of so many that we will be able to empower other autistics to be the best that they can be and to offer them the chance at a happy and fulfilled life.
Lou and Husband, Jeff
CO-CHAIRMAN
Lou Blankenship
As a full-time wife and Mom of three, with a degree and license as a Registered Dental Hygienist, owner & operator of ReClif and director of a non-profit was never where I expected to be today!
But, as often happens, life doesn’t always go according to plan. After attending the life-changing letterboard seminar and working with Reece as he learned to communicate, my family became inspired as he planned out his vision. It was always apparent that Reece has been blessed to have many caring and hardworking individuals in his corner, and this has been proven even more with the launch of ReClif.
Since ReClif opened in February 2018, I have been impressed by so many individuals within this population that we serve and inspired to do even more through ReClif Community. I have always been the “cruise director” mom who planned parties, outdoor activities, learning opportunities & events, and now that my kids are grown ReClif Community is letting me use these talents on a bigger scale! I thoroughly enjoy watching sibling and family relationships strengthen during ReClif Community events and outings, and am excited to see the potential of what we can all do together to create a more accepting and inclusive community for everyone.
CO-CHAIRMAN & TREASURER
Aaron Sniker
Introduced to Autism by fellow board member Reece Blankenship just before Reece began to communicate through Letter Boards; Aaron has seen the full transformation of someone who was shut into their body and now has been given a voice to communicate. Relying on his background with major consumer product brands in his professional career in the packaging industry Aaron handles much of the corporate donations aspects of ReClif Community and has a hand in some graphical design elements as well.
Aaron currently lives in Dunwoody, Ga with his wife, two mountain dogs and two very active preschoolers. He enjoys outdoor adventures, cooking, breweries and Clemson Tigers Football.
BOARD MEMBER
Austin Moore
Austin has 4 passions: his family, his work with autistics, the Atlanta Braves and the Georgia Bulldogs!
Austin is a Level-1 Certified Soma Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) Provider.
He has been working with special needs families since 2001, and specializing in RPM since 2015.
As a school aide and therapist for Reece, Austin was instrumental in assisting with the implementation of Reece’s vision while developing ReClif. At ReClif, Austin works on communication skills with non-speaking and non-reliable speaking autistics through letter boards, typing and purposeful movements. He assists with planning events, outings, and workshops for ReClif Community. Austin lives in Johns Creek with his wife, 2 sons and Manny the dog.
BOARD MEMBER
Trudy Goeckel, OT
Trudy has been a passionate advocate for children with special needs for over 25 years as a licensed occupational therapist for Gwinnett County Public Schools. She serves students ages 3 – 21 by collaborating in the development of programs that will assist the student in gaining functional skills, daily living skills, and educational access skills. Mrs. Goeckel holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Occupational Therapy from the Medical College of Georgia (now known as Augusta University) and is certified by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. Trudy loves to problem solve and her special areas of interest include sensory processing and feeding disorders. Trudy and her husband, Chris reside in Athens, Georgia and enjoy international travel. As the parents of 5 adult children, they stay busy with family activities.
BOARD MEMBER | SECRETARY
Daron Blankenship-Cunningham, DPT
Older than Reece by 14 months, Daron has been immersed into the world of autism and therapy since she was a toddler. In fact, Reece’s childhood PT who always included Daron in therapy sessions with her brother, was her mentor on her road to becoming a licensed physical therapist. Daron received her Doctoral of Physical Therapy degree from Duke University and her Bachelor of exercise science with an emphasis in communication studies from the University of Georgia. Since graduating, she worked 3 years full time at Tender Ones Therapy focusing on giving families of special needs children the positive therapy experience that she remembers her brother received growing up. Now part time at TOTS, she is also part time at ReClif working with young adults with autism, Cerebral Palsy, brain injuries, dual diagnosis, and anyone needing assistance with purposeful movement exercises. Being on the board for ReClif Community was a natural extension of her work with those with special needs and her commitment to her brother and family.
Daron currently lives in Dunwoody with her husband, and their therapy dog in training Pippin. She enjoys playing tennis (her older sister is her doubles partner), hiking, reading, attending events with her friends & family, and trying out new restaurants.
BOARD MEMBER | DONOR RELATIONS
Lee Olson
Reeces Plan for ReClif Community
Once my vision for ReClif came to fruition we soon realized a glaring problem. Many of my peers and their families expressed excitement about social engagement yet almost all seemed hesitant to actually pursue these opportunities. The barriers appeared three pronged – the lack of sensory friendly het age appropriate options, fear of societal ridicule, and lastly monetary restrictions due to the high cost of autism therapy eating into family budgets. After discussing these issues as a family, my brother in law Aaron proposed the idea of forming an entity to address these specific problems and shortly thereafter ReClif Community was born. Why Community? When I was growing up, I had sisters who were physically present who encouraged their friends to know me. I had parents who thankfully were mentally, emotionally, and financially able to fight for my right to be accepted into our neighborhood school instead of being bussed to another school 46 minutes across the county. I had aides able to assist when necessary and peers who came to believe in me during many sessions of recreational and ABA therapy. Above all, what we had created was a community. This was my backbone and this community gave me strength to endure the challenges of having such an unruly body.
See for yourself how ReClif and ReClif Community, both in Peachtree Corners are changing lives. Call us today at (678) 691-5426!
