Autism Speaks Official Blog

Photo by Josh Wong, Guestofaguest.com

This guest post is by Autism Speaks staffer Kerry Magro.  Kerry, an adult who has autism, is a rising senior at Seton Hall University, majoring in Sports Management.

The best performance of the day on August 5, 2010 at the NYSE Euronext was after the market closed.

Autism Speaks to Young Professionals (AS2YP) held its second annual New York Stock Exchange Summer Event on Thursday in which the sold out event (over 800 people in attendance) raised over $80,000 for Autism Speaks. The event, which was held on the trading floor of the Stock Exchange hosted a night that was filled with great music, great food, great drinks and great times, overall.

The whole trading floor lit up blue on Thursday, once again pushing the “Light it Up Blue” initiative that began on World Autism Awareness Day. In attendance we had Event Co-Chairs Amanda Niederauer and Danny Ryan who both spoke from the historic NYSE bell podium about the importance of events such as this toward raising money for the autism community.

While in the midst of all of this people were enjoying the different tables surrounding the trading floor which included several sponsored food and drink tables. There was also a raffle table for the Nantucket Walk Now for Autism Speaks, which included prizes such as seats to the U.S Open, round-trip air tickets to Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard or St. Barth’s and a Nantucket Lightship basket mirror.

One of the highlights of the night was the opportunity for guest to get their picture taken on the NYSE bell podium where the morning opening bell for the market is rung (how cool is that)!

On behalf of Autism Speaks we would just like to thank all the sponsors: Skybridge Capital, Stitchgraphics, Barbadillo, New Age Imports LLC, Given Liqueur, Cabot, Heartland Brewery, Long Island’s Original Vodka and Magner’s Irish Cider, along with the AS2YP committee who made the night a terrific success.

Everyone had such a great time and the word will quickly spread that this is the place to be.  “Like” AS2YP on Facebook at www.facebook.com/as2yp to stay up-to-date with events and check out event photos by Josh Wong.  As a fan, you will be among the first to hear when we schedule our 2011 Winter and Summer events!

Check out coverage and photos from the event:

Guest of a Guest