So I ran into someone I know very slightly through things SEPTA-related. She and another mother founded a foundation. As she put it, she'd raised thousands over the years on autism walks, and while the research is great, she wants help for her child now. So rather than wait for the district to cut through red tape, she found a creative way to arrange to donate things to the district's autism program. Which immediately prompted me to write out a check, of course. As it happens, it's my mother's yahrzeit and I'd have been making donations anyway, but it struck me as particularly appropriate to make this donation in memory of my mother, b/c it reminds me of how mothers (okay, all parents, but I tend to see mothers doing things like this) will do ANYTHING for their kids: start a foundation, a school, an organization, whatever is needed.