{"id":17,"date":"2024-09-06T14:50:30","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T14:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/seaofblueautism.org\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:50:29","slug":"how-it-started","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/seaofblueautism.org\/?page_id=17","title":{"rendered":"How It Started"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, Christopher Heel is the face of the Sea of Blue event. His passion for this annual Walk\/ 5K\/ 10K started many years ago. On May 3,2009 Chris participated in the Autism Society of Maine\u2019s annual walk in Bangor. Unbeknownst to Chris, his teachers and classmates from Mount Desert Elementary School had made plans to support him by joining him at the walk. He was overwhelmed when a school bus and caravan of cars pulled up, filled with teachers and schoolmates wearing individually designed \u201cTeam Chris\u201d tee shirts ran out to greet him.<\/p>\n

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Years later, Chris decided to plan a 2 mile walk as his senior exhibition project in 2014. He wanted to show how his autism could benefit his hometown as well as the autism community. With the help of his education team and a dozen local businesses, he planned a 2 mile walk around Northeast Harbor to raise awareness and funds for the Autism Society of Maine.<\/p>\n

The following year, he decided to add a 5K run to the event and doubled the amount raised. As the event began to attract more sponsors and participants, he was able to also donate to other autism agencies (Downeast Horizons, Special Children\u2019s Friends, Local Solutions and Washington County Children\u2019s Program).<\/p>\n

Last year with increased support from a couple of major sponsors (and the help of communications by the local amateur radio club), he was able to add a 10K to the event.<\/p>\n

The Sea of Blue event has become a fun, family event that people participate in year after year. Some come back to the outdoor events while some come to enjoy the raffle, silent auctions and complimentary light lunch.<\/p>\n

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