John Goldfarb interviewed The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation’s Co-Founder, Fred Fiddle who explains his role at The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation.
Fred Fiddle, Co-Founder of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation
John: What was your goal in co-founding The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation?
Fred: Daniel was my son, and Linda, the Founder and Executive Director and I co-founded The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation in memory of him, and to carry out his legacy with the purpose of providing opportunities for the diverse adult autism community so as to raise their quality of life and give them a place in the world that would be better for them and their families.
John: Why is being a member of the Board of Trustees important to you and what is your current role?
Fred: As one of the organization’s founders, I continue to help oversee the direction of both short term and long term goals while maintaining the mission to focus on adults living with Autism. I’m the treasurer of The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation, and chair the oversight of all financial aspects of the organization .
John: Would you please tell me about your job, or what you do now?
Fred: For many years, I’ve worked on Wall Street. I am a banker, and I’m an investment banker and originate what are known as capital markets transactions.
John: In what other ways have you connected to individuals and families because of your work with The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation?
Fred:, I’ve developed close relationships with other families that have autistic sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, as I’m sure your well aware, this is a situation which has grown in significant proportions over the years. There’s many now that are on the spectrum and I’ve reached out to many of those in need and have been blessed to come into contact with many families that have family members on the spectrum, and it reminds me of times with my son and also reminds me that giving back is something that’s really important in life.
John: What are your hopes for the Autism community?
Fred: I would tell you that the future, I would hope continues to improve. I would hope that there would be more organizations either like ours or at least similar enough and that they’re supportive of the autism community. I would hope that government plays a larger role in sponsoring programs and services for those living with autism. Certainly there’s a lot of effort and research that’s gone into trying to establish the grounds on which autism is triggered in individuals, but the bottom line is, there’s an enormous population that are currently living with autism, most of those individuals will live a fairly long life, a typical lifespan, and everyday there are kids that are being born that will at some point be diagnosed, so the size and scope of the issue is significant, and I only hope that the support meets the challenge.
Autism For A Lifetime 