Dart tournament brings in thousands for local Autism class

A popular spot for hitting the bullseye was taken over for a good cause Saturday as the local dart community came out to support Autism Awareness month.

On Saturday, a dart tournament was held at Barrie's Queen's Hotel restaurant. The event is the brainchild of Sue Courts, whose son JR has non-verbal autism.

"I'm part of the dart community, and dart players really come together when there's a cause, so I'm going to start a tournament, and we're going to raise money," Courts tells CTV News.

This is the third time the tournament has been held, with a two-year break between events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds were directed toward the ASD classes at Terry Fox Elementary School in Barrie for the first iterations.

However, since then, JR has graduated, so that the funds will be split between Terry Fox Elementary School and Innisdale Secondary School this year.

"For her to put money into our program, it comes from her heart, and Sue has just been the biggest supporter, and it's going to enable her son to do a lot of things that we wouldn't be able to afford to do as a classroom," says Jay Malandrino, JR's teacher. "It's people like Sue and like people that are here today that are going to enable her son to do wonderful things."

Malandrino has six students in his ASD class. The funds will be used for sensory equipment and for field trips to help those in his class develop life skills in social settings outside of the classroom.

"It's people like Sue and like people that are here today that are going to enable her son to do wonderful things like explore the community, go on field trips, take buses, learn skills that we couldn't expose them to just inside the classroom," says Malandrino.

The last tournament raised $2,000. This year Courts says they raised more than their goal, which was $3,000.

Anyone who would like to support the ASD classrooms can reach out to the school board.