Meet Our MVPs

Audrey Metzler has had a connection with the autism community for the entirety of her life—whether it was through friends, peers, family friends, or friends of her siblings. “When I turned 18, I got licensed to be a habilitation/respite provider for children and teens with autism,” says Audrey. “That transitioned into

Callie and Robert Maxwell were introduced to SARRC in 2019, when their son, Jackson, received an autism diagnosis at 2 years old. “Jackson’s preschool principal mentioned SARRC and put us in contact with the Community School team,” Callie recalls. “Fortunately, we were able to enroll Jackson in the Community School

Ceci and Richard Tayrien were compelled to join SARRC as Multiyear Visionary Partners. But their involvement, in the nonprofit community, goes much deeper. An Arizona native, Ceci met her husband while she was in nursing school and he was in his medical residency. His career in Internal medicine and healthcare

More than a decade ago, Julie Alpert and her husband, Gregg, attended SARRC’s Annual Community Breakfast. She had some familiarity with autism as her adult cousin had an autism diagnosis. “I knew it was difficult for my aunt and uncle to raise their family of four children with limited autism

Karen and Steve Ewing’s journey with SARRC started in 2019 after their grandson, Owen, was diagnosed with autism. Soon after, Owen and his parents enrolled in SARRC’s 12-week Parent Training Program, where the family received 12 weeks of individualized support and one-on-one coaching with a clinician. “Our son and his

For the Hubbard family—parents Kathy and Bob, and their son—autism intervention has been crucial in their journey. “We were fortunate to get services when he needed them as a teen and adult,” they share. “The ability to receive coaching services earlier, on both the youth-side and adult-side, was very important.” During high

Patty and Phil Dion were MVPs long before joining Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center’s Multiyear Visionary Partner (MVP) program. They were inspired to become involved with SARRC many years ago to honor their son, Dave. Dave struggled with health issues related to his premature birth and developmental challenges during

A desire to help children and support critical research motivated Phil and Susie Goldman to become SARRC Multiyear Visionary Partners. Not directly impacted by autism, the Goldmans were moved hearing the story of their friends’ grandson. Zach is the grandson of longtime SARRC supporters Kathy and Mike Bosco. His autism

Impressed with SARRC’s impact of early intervention for youngsters on the autism spectrum, Regeanna and James Mwansa joined SARRC’s Multiyear Visionary Partner program to help improve early diagnosis efforts so children may get the early intervention they need. As Multiyear Visionary Partners or MVPs, they have pledged an annual donation for

Rob and Jenni Leinbach’s journey to becoming a Multiyear Visionary Partner began in a personal way—their son, Lucas, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when he was 20 months old. “When we received Lucas’s diagnosis, I started researching, called all of the ABA [Applied Behavior Analysis] providers on the