Cooking Autism, Inc.

09/19/2026

🍂🎃 Fall Family Fun! 🎃🍂

Board members Andrea and Pie are enjoying the Fall Family Festival hosted by the Disability Resource Center today! 💙 We’ll be here until 4:00 PM, so come join us for an afternoon of family fun, inclusion, and creativity!

Stop by to connect with us and make a fun (and delicious!) fall activity—Ritz Cracker Spiders! 🕷️🕸️

🍪 Ritz Cracker Spiders Recipe
• Ritz crackers
• Your favorite spread (peanut butter, SunButter, Nutella, etc.)
• Pretzel sticks
• Candy eyes

How to make them:

1. Spread your favorite spread between two Ritz crackers.
2. Break pretzel sticks into smaller pieces and gently insert them around the edges to make the spider legs. 🕷️
3. Add two candy eyes to the top.
4. Enjoy your spooky, crunchy snack! 😋

Thank you to the Disability Resource Center for creating a wonderful event where every family can participate, connect, and have fun! ❤️

📍 We’ll be here until 4:00 PM — come say hello!

09/19/2026

🌟 SHOWCASE SATURDAY! 🌟

Today we’re celebrating Reyna Romero-Garcia and the amazing students at Colonial Forge High School in Virginia! 🦅👩‍🍳

Reyna is a Special Education Teacher and a first-time Cooking Autism Grant recipient, with 8 students set to benefit from this grant. 🎉

One of her favorite cooking activities is a creative $25 Dessert Challenge! 🍰🍪 Students design their own dessert, create a recipe, build a grocery list, and work within a $25 budget. They then create a Google Slides presentation featuring their dessert, ingredients, budget, and whether they successfully stayed under budget.

And it doesn’t stop there! Students get to invite 1–2 teachers to serve as judges, who evaluate their creations based on name, taste, texture, and presentation. 👩‍⚖️✨

This hands-on activity blends cooking, budgeting, communication, social skills, life skills, creativity, and independence into one delicious learning experience! 💙

We can’t wait to see what these students create with their Cooking Autism Grant! 🍰🎨💰

📚 Fun fact about Reyna: She’s a HUGE book nerd who loves filling her bookshelves at home—while still borrowing books from her local library! 📖❤️

Congratulations, Reyna, and thank you for creating meaningful opportunities for your students to learn, grow, and build independence through cooking! 🎉

09/19/2026

We are all set and ready to go. Bring the family for a wonderful day

09/18/2026

Tomorrow’s the day. Free event and plenty of things for the whole family. Stop by and say Hi!

🐴 Meet Peanut and her friends! 🐷🐐🐰

We’re excited to welcome Rancho La Fe to the Fall Family Festival for the first time this Saturday!

They’ll be bringing Peanut the pony, Pinky the mini pig, Snow White & Mocha the goats, Lola the bunny, Moana & HeiHei the bantam chickens, and more. We may even get to meet Cinnamon, their newest rescue mini pony! ❤️

And that’s just one part of the fun, with Raging Reptiles, pumpkin painting, face painting, a bounce house, games, crafts, food trucks, 90+ vendors and more!

Saturday, September 19 | 11:00 AM–4:00 PM
Fredericksburg Fairgrounds
🎟️ FREE admission • FREE parking

Come meet the animals from Rancho La Fe (and please let your own furry friends sit this one out at home)! 🐾

Bring the family and come meet the animals! 🍂

09/18/2026

🌟 FEATURE FRIDAY! 🌟

Today, we’re excited to celebrate Minnie Shumanski from T. Benton Gayle Middle School in Virginia! 💙🍳

Minnie is a Special Education Teacher who is bringing the power of cooking and hands-on learning to her students through the Cooking Autism Grant. This grant will benefit approximately 8 students, creating opportunities to build skills, confidence, independence, and plenty of wonderful memories along the way! 👩‍🍳

🍕 Favorite foods & cooking activities: Pizza and cookies! 🍪

🐶 Fun fact: Minnie is the proud owner of a 5-year-old Goldendoodle! 🐾

We’re so grateful to have Minnie as part of the Cooking Autism community and love seeing the impact she continues to make with her students. 💙

Join us in celebrating Minnie and the students at Gayle Middle School! 🎉👏

09/16/2026

Come out to this amazing event! So many vendors and fun things to do with the family. We will see you there!

🐴 Meet Peanut and her friends! 🐷🐐🐰

We’re excited to welcome Rancho La Fe to the Fall Family Festival for the first time this Saturday!

They’ll be bringing Peanut the pony, Pinky the mini pig, Snow White & Mocha the goats, Lola the bunny, Moana & HeiHei the bantam chickens, and more. We may even get to meet Cinnamon, their newest rescue mini pony! ❤️

And that’s just one part of the fun, with Raging Reptiles, pumpkin painting, face painting, a bounce house, games, crafts, food trucks, 90+ vendors and more!

Saturday, September 19 | 11:00 AM–4:00 PM
Fredericksburg Fairgrounds
🎟️ FREE admission • FREE parking

Come meet the animals from Rancho La Fe (and please let your own furry friends sit this one out at home)! 🐾

Bring the family and come meet the animals! 🍂

09/14/2026

THE WAIT IS OVER!

COOKING AUTISM’S 7TH ANNUAL RACE TOWARD AUTISM ACCEPTANCE & FESTIVAL IS COMING!

APRIL 17, 2027
PRATT PARK — FREDERICKSBURG, VA

And YES… REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW!

Grab your family. Grab your friends. Grab your coworkers. Grab your running buddies. Grab EVERYONE!

Choose your challenge:

5K
10K
1-Mile
1/4-Mile Dash

Then stick around for an AWESOME festival celebrating our autism community!

This isn’t just a race.

This is COMMUNITY.
This is ACCEPTANCE.
This is INCLUSION.
This is COOKING AUTISM!

We’re bringing the energy, the smiles, the music, the fun, and SO MUCH LOVE to Pratt Park!

SIGN UP NOW! DON’T WAIT!

Register through Bishop Events:
https://raceroster.com/events/2027/141634/race-towards-autism-acceptance-5k-10k-1m-and-14-mile-dash

LACE UP. SHOW UP. SPEAK UP. RACE TOWARD AUTISM ACCEPTANCE!

APRIL 17, 2027 — WE’LL SEE YOU AT THE STARTING LINE!

08/30/2026

🎉 A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR APPLE BASKET SPONSORS! 🍎

We are so grateful to our 2026 Fall Family Festival Apple Basket Sponsors for their generous support:

💙 Topside FCU
💙 Fusion Rehab and Wellness
💙 ABLEnow
💙 Behavioral Health Services of Virginia
💙 Mitchell Residential Solutions

Your support helps the disAbility Resource Center bring our community together for a FREE, inclusive day of family fun, live music, food trucks, activities, community resources, and so much more!

📅 Saturday, September 19, 2026
⏰ 11:00 AM – 4:00 PM
📍 Fredericksburg Fairgrounds
🎟️ FREE ADMISSION

Thank you for helping make the Fall Family Festival possible! 💙💛

🍂 Let the Gourd Times Roll! 🎃

08/24/2026

This will be such a fun day!