Concerts raise funds for autism

When Betty and Corky Bennish’s nephew, Sonic Blue Rehrig, was diagnosed with autism 13 years ago, it was the first time Betty Bennish had ever heard the word “autism,” and she had no idea what that term implied.

She knew a couple of things for sure, though. She’s always “been into music,” and it offered her much comfort during her own battle with cancer.

Betty Bennish was volunteering her time helping a friend with the Newport Beach Jazz Festival at the time of Sonic’s diagnosis. Now, she and her husband spend a great deal of their time coordinating benefit concerts to raise money for research to cure autism.

Betty Bennish knew she had the contacts she needed to line up entertainment for the benefit concerts. Her decision to promote jazz concerts in her own city — Huntington Beach — resulted in BB Jazz, a nonprofit organization she and her husband formed nearly eight years ago to “get music to people” and give money to autism research.

BB Jazz puts on a series of jazz concerts at the Huntington Beach Library Theater, booking well-known and aspiring musicians from February through April. The last concert of the series will be this Saturday at the Huntington Beach Central Library.

In June, July and August there are concerts at the Wilson Creek Winery in Temecula, and the winery donates a portion of all the money they raise to BB Jazz to support autism research.

April is Autism Awareness Month, and although more is known about this disorder now than what was known years ago, there is more that needs to be done.

Bennish’s sister, longtime Huntington Beach resident Diane Adams Rehrig, had expressed concern when Sonic — her only child — still wasn’t speaking at the age of 2, so Bennish advised her to have his hearing checked, knowing that not being able to hear sometimes caused a delay in the development of speech patterns in children his age.

His hearing turned out to be fine, and according to Bennish, “time passed, and when he went to his first nursery school, they picked up on it right away — that there was an issue.”

The diagnosis of autism soon followed, but surprisingly, Bennish says, a doctor basically told her sister, “Go home — he’ll grow out of it.”

Not according to the Autism Society of America, which defines autism as a neurological disorder affecting a child’s ability to speak and interact with other people and their surroundings.

Children with autism often repeat words, phrases and movements, and are unresponsive to verbal prompts, appearing as if they are deaf.

The Autism Society states, “Children do not ‘outgrow’ autism, but symptoms may lessen as the child develops and receives treatment.”

It is estimated that autism appears in 1 in 150 births in the United States, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2007 report, and this number is on the rise.

Autism is also four times more prevalent in boys than in girls.

“Our goals haven’t changed since we started — they’re more defined, but they haven’t changed,” Corky Bennish said.

“I mean, you’re giving, but you get back a lot more,” Betty Bennish added.

Sonic Blue Rehrig is almost 16 now and is more severely affected by the disorder than some autistic children — he doesn’t speak, requires a special diet, and his parents employ a staff of aides to help care for him. He’s 5-foot-10 and “cute and sensitive,” but his mom Diane Rehrig said she works “very hard” at getting him to socialize with others and not stay so isolated.

Sonic goes with friends and his aides to the movies, he skateboards, and though he may not be able to verbalize his thoughts and feelings, Rehrig says she’s glad that “he hangs out.”

Sonic attends Edison High School in Huntington Beach, where there’s a special education program, on a part-time basis and is also tutored at home.

The Bennishes and BB Jazz continue to support the school — Pyramid Autism Center — that Sonic attended in Huntington Beach from 1999 until the school relocated to Orange in March of 2004.

Rehrig recalls that when the Bennishes first started BB Jazz and began donating money to Pyramid Autism Center, it was “a new school that needed all the extra money [it] could get.”

And for the Bennishes — as with many of the relatives of autistic children — it was a way for them to get involved with autism, when they really didn’t know what to do, Rehrig says.

Stacey Kochanowski, the director at Pyramid, met the Rehrigs and the Bennishes in 1999, when she was working as a teacher at the school.

Betty and Corky Bennish were always around when Sonic began attending there, and that unlike most people who “pat themselves on the back, give a donation, and they’re done,” the Bennishes were different, Kochanowski said.

“I can’t tell you how much money and support they’ve given — much more than monetary support,” she said. The Bennishes continue to visit the school often, and according to Kochanowski, “When both of them are on campus, and they visit a lot, you can tell how proud they are of what they’re supporting,” she said.

And Diane Rehrig and husband Cliff still volunteer and help at all the BB Jazz concerts.

Cliff Rehrig is a former bass player for Air Supply, so music has always been a part of Sonic’s life.

Betty and Corky Bennish are finishing their sixth year with the BB Jazz library series.

“Collectively, over this period of time, we’ve had an opportunity to grow the BB Jazz business, and our earnings have grown as well, so we decided to give even more back,” Corky Bennish said.

In addition to the money they donate to autism, the Bennishes also give to The Susan G. Komen Foundation to fight breast cancer, the Starlight Foundation, Hands for Hope and One Miracle of Life, which provides kidney transplants for children. Corky Bennish received a kidney transplant seven years ago.

Ninety-nine percent of what the Bennishes donate is for children’s causes, and Corky Bennish said he speaks for both he and his wife when he says, “When you find a life reward, it’s hard to compete with it.”

For information and concert schedules, go to www.bbjazz.com.