Caroline Long receives the 2014 ATHENA award

I'm a little late with this, but since there's a Flat Rock connection, I didn't want to miss it. From the Hendersonville Lightning:

Caroline Long, a Hendersonville mom who turned her own struggles and questions about raising two children with autism into a nationally recognized school for autism treatment, was recognized as the 2014 Athena Award winner for her contributions to the community and her mentoring of other women.

Long began working to create the St. Gerard House for children with autism near downtown Hendersonville in 2009, primarily using her own financial resources. In the four years since the St. Gerard House opened, more than 400 students and family members have been helped and served by the school's early behavioral intervention program. She is reachable after hours, before hours and on weekends to mentor moms struggling with an autistic child.

St. Gerard House, which carefully documents its findings, is gaining recognition as a national model for autism therapy. Caroline is also spearheading an international Rwandan Sisters Project to bring missionaries from Africa to St. Gerard House to learn how to help children with autism in Rwanda. . .

And from the Times-News:

Caroline Long, founder of the St. Gerard House in Hendersonville, was recognized Thursday [May 15] as the seventh annual ATHENA Award winner during the Business & Professional Women's Luncheon at Kenmure Country Club. . .

In 2009, Long turned her own experiences raising autistic children into a nonprofit organization that provides families of autistic children with support and educational resources — including The Grotto School, which provides individualized education to local autistic children based on applied behavior analysis.

“I happened to have two children that didn't fit into a mold anywhere, so we had to figure it out,” Long said Thursday.

Now that St. Gerard House and The Grotto School are in Henderson County, local families don't have to go it alone when their children are first diagnosed with autism, said Mike Farmer, treasurer of the St. Gerard House board of directors. . .