To me, the simple answer is no. Sprouts supports things like healthy living, alternative medicine, vitamins, minerals, gluten free diets and many other things. Yet for some reason they are fund raising for an organization that has some big corporate pharmaceutical, vaccine, prescription pushing companies as sponsors.
Why is this?
Well rumor has it (from the Sprouts employees who are willing to talk when PITA parents have inquired about why it is corporate fund raising for Autism Speaks) is that some one at corporate has a child with Autism.
I am hoping that this means that this high up person in Sprouts is a parent that is new to the diagnoses. Since Autism Speaks is known nation wide, they are trying to give back and do not understand what they are doing. I also hope and pray that they are in a corporation that stands for very different values than those of Autism Speaks. Autism Speaks does not speak for the Sprouts consumer and they definitely do not speak for 90% of the people I know who have children with Autism.
In my humble opinion Autism Speaks is anti anything and everything Sprouts stands for and maybe Sprouts just needs to be educated that one of their core consumer bases is not happy with their choice of charities. Since I know most of my friends who are PITA’s are doing this locally, I think maybe we need to do this nationally; politely at the corporate level. I think it is time to mount a campaign for them to stop sponsoring Autism Speaks. So please ask everyone you know who does not think “Autism Speaks” speaks for them to tell Sprouts which Autism organizations actually speak for them. It is also good to include why Autism Speaks and Sprouts policies are completely diametrically opposed. Sprouts, in my opinion, as a corporation should not support a charity like Autism Speaks that is anti homeopathic remedies, local grown produce, natural cures, alternative diets, biomedical, and supplements,
If you agree can you please contact Sprouts via there “Contact us Form” or by phone at 888-5SPROUT and tell them you read my blog at pitaup.com, as always be polite.
BUT tell Sprouts why they should speak in support for Autism Charities that support parents of children with Autism and natural, biomedical choices and not for a group like Autism Speaks.
Until next time PITAup!!!
Count me in for any letter-writing campaigns against fund-raising for Autism Speaks.
ReplyDeleteDear Sprouts,
ReplyDeletePlease do not fund-raise for Autism Speaks as their views do not support those parents who seek to help their children with supplements, alternative diets, and alternative medical treatments.
Also there has been some controversy over the exorbitant salaries that Autism Speaks executives are paid in relation to the small amount of funds that they give back to the autism community. Other Autism charities are more worthy, such as the National Autism Association or even Talk About Curing Autism Now. It is my hope that your customers who donate time and/or money to charities that you sponsor will feel good about their donation and not later realize that their hard-earned money likely went toward some charity executive's new Mercedes. Or worse, that their hard-earned money went toward genetic autism research that might later result in terminations of 1 in every 110 pregnancies when that same research money might have found an environmental, preventable cause of autism. Ask yourselves, what will the result of Autism Speaks millions of dollars toward genetic autism research yield?
Sincerely,
Nicole Mytels, parent of a child with autism