About Us
The Channing's Joy Foundation was founded in 2022 by Channing's mama, Lauren. The foundation is ran solely by Lauren (with the help of her husband, Chad) and is dedicated to promoting inclusion and acceptance of autism and all individuals with special needs. Channing, the foundation's namesake, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in 2018.
After the diagnosis, Lauren quit her full-time job in retail operations and completely dedicated her days to driving Channing to and from therapies. After several years of advocating in the background, constantly worrying about her son's future, Lauren decided to start raising money for autism awareness by selling a shirt that honored Channing.
Selling the shirts raised awareness, and funds... so many funds. It gave Lauren a sense of purpose because she was able to help families like her own to receive assistance and access to resources and therapies. In the first two years, the foundation has already donated over $350,000 to families and organizations. Each year, we host a fashion show in October along with our friends at clothing retailer, vestique, as well as A Walk for Joy in April. Every few months, we host autism family meet ups which include kid-friendly events as well as parent-only events. You can learn more about those events here.
In the future, we have plans for more events as well as some amazing collaborations to continue our movement of spreading joy and inclusion.
ALL proceeds go to support families of children with special needs and/or organizations whose mission is to promote inclusion.