Little Light House Raises Funds To Aid Special Needs Students

A Green Country preschool is raising money one lap at a time.

Saturday morning, the Little Light House held its annual "Lap for Little Ones."

One father and his son are separated by sea, yet they are united through the special cause.

The Little Light House is a tuition-free program for children with special needs.

"Laps for Little Ones" is just one of the many ways the school raises money to keep that education cost-free.

And it turns out it's a cause that stretches thousands of miles.

For Aimee Baird, the run is personal.

"We can't say enough great things about the Little Light House, it's such a wonderful program for us to support," Tulsan Aimee Baird said.

Aimee's son Jacob graduated from the Little Light House four years ago, but it's still a cause that's near and dear to her heart.

"There are over a hundred kids on their waiting list and they need every penny that they can to serve these kids," Baird said.

So she's running for Jacob and all the other kids out there just like him.

"He is just the sweetest little boy in the world and we are very proud of him and every accomplishment and every accomplishment he makes every day," she said.

Aside from living with autism, Jacob is like any other 10-year-old boy, his likes playing games on his mom's phone and hanging out with his older brothers, Ian and Callum.

"To me he's the most amazing kid in the world and, I love him," Callum said.

Jacob's mom and oldest brother lapped around the track nearly 30 times, while Jacob and his other brother cheered loudly from the sidelines.

But there was one person missing, Jacob's dad, Lt. Col. Robert Baird.

"He's a security Forces Commander at one of the air bases in Saudi Arabia," Aimee Baird said.

He may be half a world away, but that didn't stop him from forming his own team for the Lap for Little Ones.

More than 140 of his Air Reserve friends, all them strangers to Jacob, got up Saturday morning to run for a cause that touches so many lives every day.

"Somehow everyone knows a child with special needs and so they were so thrilled to be able to do this for us," Baird said.

This was the biggest year yet for the event.

In addition to the 140 airmen who ran, more than 200 people took to the track in at Cascia Hall.

The fundraiser brought in nearly $160,000.