Bobby Kern, associate professor of family science, has created significant fundraising efforts at Oklahoma Christian University to support the Down Syndrome Association of Central Oklahoma. Kern’s son Josiah has Down syndrome.
Kern has a long history at Oklahoma Christian. He said he grew up around the campus and knew he would come here as a student from a very early age.
“I was a student here from 1995 to 2000,” Kern said. “I came back in 2012 to teach family science. And I am now an associate professor of family science in the division of behavioral and social Sciences.”
DSACO was formed in 2000 by parents of children with Down syndrome in the Oklahoma City area. Over the past two decades, this organization has grown from a grassroots group for families to support each other into a large association which provides services and programming for over 900 families in central Oklahoma. The program intends to “raise awareness and provide resources, as well as promote acceptance and inclusion for people with Down syndrome.”
DSACO hosts an annual festival and 5K awareness and fundraising event which brings light to their cause and raises money.
“This year everything had to be virtual and a drive-through parade was held this past Saturday in its place,” Kern said. “Each year we encourage families to create a fundraising team and raise money for the organization in the name of their loved one with Down syndrome.”
Kern said Team Buggy Jo has been on campus for seven years running.
“Our team, Team Buggy Jo, was created in 2013 when our son Josiah was born, and we have partnered with OC and several other businesses every year to sell t-shirts as part of our fundraising efforts,” Kern said “OC designs and orders the shirts for us and we sell them on campus, with all proceeds going to DSACO from Team Buggy Jo.”
Kern gave insight into the meaning of the name Buggy Jo.
“Everyone always asks where the name came from,” Kern said. “We found out that our son had Down syndrome while he was still in utero. We had a hard time coming up with a name for him that would be fitting of who we knew he would be. So, we turned to our then 3-year-old daughter and asked her what she’d like to call her baby brother. She said, ‘Let’s call him Buggy.’”
According to Kern, the name stuck.
“So we started calling the unborn child Buggy,” Kern said. “Lydia would talk to Buggy in mama’s belly. A few weeks later we were watching The Voice of all things, and one of the contestants was named Josiah. We looked at each other and smiled. After researching the meaning we found out that Josiah means ‘Jehovah heals’ and we were locked in. So from that point forward, he was Buggy Jo.”
DSACO provides many different programs and services for over 900 families. These programs and services include new parent welcome packets, quarterly breakfasts, parenting workshops, teen and self-advocate workshops, elementary adventure clubs, Kylie’s Kitchen (a microwave based cooking class) and several other programs.
“Our dream is to own our own building and increase our staff, including hiring self-advocates,” Kern said.
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