When I first started learning about autism I really wanted to start an ABA program for James but I didn't have the money. So, I thought that I could start a fund for James. I have family and friends who own businesses and thought that they could donate to James’s fund, it would go to support his ABA program and it would be tax deductible. The name of that fund would be Jilting Autism by the Means of Eliminating its Symptoms AKA the J.A.M.E.S. project. My brother is a business consultant and I would ask him to help me set it all up. Turns out that starting a fund is way more difficult than I had originally thought but I still loved the name. I gave up on that idea but sometime along the way Erin talked me into starting this new support group with her that would meet every other Thursday. Then Jamie told me about this lecture on autism that would be held at OHSU. It sounded interesting so I invited my girlfriend Jenene. She and I went together, we talked about autism and what we found out and what we were trying with our children until the very last minute before the first speaker began. There was a lady sitting with her mother directly in front of us who just found out that her son was diagnosed with autism and she was devastated. They overheard us talking and asked us what we thought they should do. We started thinking of what was important to know and start right away and what things could wait. We wrote it all down on a piece of paper and handed it to her after the lecture along with our phone numbers. That is when I realized/remembered that when you are new to the autism world it is a bit overwhelming. There is so much information out there that you simply don’t know what to do first. I talked to Jamie about making a web site. He had mentioned it a time or two before but I just never realized how it could be helpful to others. He thought it was a great idea and had lots of ideas about message boards and calendars and other helpful tools. I tried to think of helpful things for the moms and I remembered that when I first found out about James’s autism (and even now) I loved to hear stories that other moms would tell about their children and what they tried, how they felt and what they are doing for them now. That's how this all started.