Eagles Autism Foundation has grown into a force to aid those on the spectrum and their families

Steven DeLong, whose 5-year-old son, Bradley, was diagnosed with autism 2½ years ago, felt as if he needed to channel his feelings into action.

After attending an Eagles Autism Foundation event shortly after his son was diagnosed, DeLong found community after his son became overstimulated at the event.

“He hit me a lot, and that was his way, unfortunately, because he couldn’t talk well still, of expressing his displeasure for what was going on,” DeLong said.

“There was a mom in line that put her hand on my shoulder, I’d never met her, and just said, ‘You’re doing a great job, and this is what he needs from you right now.’ It just felt so good to know that we’re not alone in this, and there are other families out there that just will, out of the kindness of their heart, reach out and say, ‘Hey, you’re doing a good job.’ That’s the meaning of all of this for us, is that community space that we can feel safe in.”

Since then, DeLong has hosted three fundraisers for the foundation, and recruited Eagles guard Landon Dickerson to sign autographs and take photos at his latest event at the Daisy Tavern in Conshohocken.

In his first two fundraisers, DeLong raised more than $20,000 for the foundation.

The Eagles Autism Foundation set a fundraising record in 2024 with $8.1 million, and is already on pace to surpass it this year. The foundation was officially launched in 2019 to centralize the team’s many autism initiatives, and has grown exponentially every year since.

Through initiatives like the Eagles Autism Challenge and the team’s annual public practice at Lincoln Financial Field, the foundation raises millions every year, and over time, the players and fans have become more involved.

So, where does all the fundraising money go?

Among other things, the foundation runs a series of all-abilities clinics for children on the spectrum to try football and cheerleading. The Eagles even kicked off the year with a clinic in São Paolo, Brazil, for the season opener.

For 14-year-old Liam Morrow, the all-abilities cheer clinic was life-changing. Morrow is now on his high school cheer team at Owen J. Roberts High School in Pottstown and on a Challenger cheer team for athletes with disabilities.

At his first clinic, Morrow learned an entire routine from the Eagles’ cheerleaders, and although he has surpassed the beginner level routines at the clinic, he keeps going back to help guide other children.

“The cheer stuff, and the stuff with the [Eagles] Autism Foundation, it’s helped him solidify what he wants to do as he gets as he gets older, which is to be an autism support teacher‚" said Morrow’s father, Mark.

The goal for Eagles owner Jeffery Lurie is to fund the “best research and the best community grant programs,” Eagles Autism Foundation executive director Ryan Hammond said, not just the ones closest to the area.

As the foundation has started to award more research grants, it has developed a rigorous scientific review process to award two-year research grants to scientists and postdoctoral fellows.

One recent recipient was Byoung-Il Bae, a researcher at UConn Health working on a project dealing with the role of excessive embryonic neurogenesis in autism spectrum disorder, investigating links between fetal brain development and brain size with hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli.

With the growing instability of National Institutes of Health grants because of DOGE cuts, private grants like those from the Eagles Autism Foundation are becoming increasingly critical to researchers, Bae said. In the future, he hopes the Eagles continue to expand their grant program to fund longer-term research projects.

“I hope that the Eagles continue to do not only the pilot grant that I received but also more substantial grants, as long as the Eagles foundation has the money,” Bae said.

“Longer-term, and more sizable grants could be a little bit more beneficial.”

In addition to research grants, the Eagles Autism Foundation supports community organizations in the Greater Philadelphia area dedicated to helping people on the spectrum.

Thanks to the Eagles Autism Foundation’s 2023 grant, the Pathway School, a special education school supporting students with autism, ADHD, and other learning disabilities in Jeffersonville, opened a new classroom for students with higher autism support needs.

The classroom has five students and four teachers, and the Eagles’ grant went toward a number of support items in the classroom, including padded walls, sensory swings, barriers to help create semiprivate spaces, and sensory support items like fidgets, rocking chairs, and headphones.

“We saw improvements in their ability to self-regulate and their increase in attention to tasks, and an increase in verbal language and communication skills,” said Jory Barrad, Pathway School director of development.

“The support from the foundation and helping us acquire all of these items was vital in terms of the success of this new program.”

The grant and the new classroom were so successful that the Pathway School applied for a second grant in 2024, and is using it to expand career support services for older students at the school through a virtual reality headset program.

The headsets give students the opportunity to test out the environment of potential job opportunities without risking overstimulation for those who aren’t ready just yet.