Four tired, sore but dedicated Union alumni rolled across the finish line in late August in Kittery, Maine, completing an 1,800-mile roller blade journey that spanned the East Coast and raised money for autism.
"We’re still tallying the final contributions, but expect to top $120,000,” said Dan Tatar ’07, who created the Rolling for Autism campaign. “The support has been amazing. Dozens of Union College alumni came out to the events in New York City and Boston, and 15 or so skated nearly 100 miles with us.”
As Tatar’s Union career came to an end last spring, the 23-year-old psychology major began pursuing the idea of a summer roller blade trip aimed at raising money and awareness for autism. Tatar’s older brother, Ben, is on the high-functioning end of the autism spectrum, which is made up of disorders characterized by impaired ability to communicate and interact socially. The idea for a roller blade trek gathered momentum as Union classmates joined the effort and donations began pouring in. That is also when the real work of trip planning began, according to Tatar.
“The skate was the easy part,” Tatar said. “The hard part was coordinating the logistics of the events in each major city. Union College families opened up their homes to us, providing food and lodging for 12 nights along the route and Union’s dining services folks were amazingly helpful.”
The trip began on June 28 on Amelia Island, Fla. and ended 53 days later on Aug. 19 in Maine. Joining Tatar were fellow Class of 2007 members Kelly Lannan, Sean Streich, Jason Ortollano and Carson Strang, along with University of Vermont senior Amber Leenstra. The group skated 40 miles a day, taking turns for half-hour stretches while others followed in a car.
Dan Detora, director of dining services at Union, arranged for food, water, Powerbars and Gatorade for the skaters to be picked up at colleges along to way. Union sororities and clubs held events to raise money for the cause and hundreds of alumni came out to meet and, in many cases, join the skating crew.
“We were fortunate to have such an amazing network of support,” Tatar explained. “Nate Leaman, Union College men’s hockey coach, trained us and hundreds of students and alumni have come out to support us. We couldn’t have done it without all the support from the College.”
Ben Tatar, 25, joined his brother and the roller blading crew for a week near the end of the trip. Ben, a graduate Adirondack Community College, is in many ways a success story and beacon of hope for parents with children with autism spectrum disorders.
“It was great to have Ben along to lighten the humor,” Tatar said. “Especially when he took a spill into a bush in Hartford, bringing Sean along with him. It was even better to have Ben at the events so that parents of young kids, who may be uncertain about autism or their children's futures, could see someone who is impacted by the autism spectrum achieve success.”
Tatar was a goalie and Streich was a defenseman for the men’s hockey team last season. The group is already looking ahead to next summer, when they plan to skate a couple of shorter trips. They have also been contacted by college students interested in a trip from Minnesota to Los Angeles.
“We’re planning to retain half the money raised within the organization to fund education and awareness programs,” Tatar explained. “We’ve targeted the other half to provide grants for children with autism to give kids life opportunities they wouldn’t normally be able to afford.”