We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alicia Mathieu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alicia below.

Alicia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

At 14 weeks pregnant I received a call from my gynecologist that I needed to come in immediately. It was a stressful day because my husband was supposed to start one of his last classes to obtain his associates degree and wasn’t able to attend the appointment with me. That morning we were also arguing about who we would have throw the gender reveal party. He wanted his friend, and I wanted my sister. We were not happy with each other when I left the house for the appointment. So I get to the doctors office and as soon as the doctor walks in I hear “Well it’s a boy and he most likely has Down syndrome”… Instant tears. Mostly because he just blurted out the gender of my baby, and I didn’t want to know, but also because I heard the words Down syndrome. If I’m being completely honest I don’t remember what was said after that. I just remember my doctor hugging me and telling me it’s going to be ok. I had already been through a lot throughout the years with pregnancy loss and such, that this particular doctor knew me very well and has gained my complete trust. I got to the car and called my husband. I was a blubbering mess and all I could say was “you were supposed to be here with me!” I gave him the “bad news” and met him back at home. He missed his first day of class and we met with our pastor within that same hour.
We were just LOST. We didn’t know what to do… so many options were thrown at us and not knowing much about the diagnosis was hard.
All we knew was that we would never terminate. If God wanted us to have this baby then we were going to have this baby.
The weeks following that appointment I researched all I could on Down syndrome. Everything that was popping up was depressing and scary. I thought my life was over. I thought I’m going to have to take care of this person for the rest of my life. There will be no college, no marriage, no family for this boy. It just hurt.
But then, I discovered the most gut-wrenching statistic. People living with intellectual disabilities are sexually assaulted at a rate seven times higher than those without disabilities. I instantly felt sick. All I kept thinking was “why isn’t anyone doing anything about this?!” If this happened to my child, what would I do? And to be honest, it’s not something I could even say out loud. I would probably be in jail.
That being said, I knew I was the one who needed to make the change. So it started with self defense classes in jujitsu for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. These classes are taught at a slower pace with more repetition to ensure that everybody grasp the concept before moving forward. Then I realized there are a lot of other classes out there that this vulnerable population could use. So we started offering classes such as Karate,CPR, Infant Swim Rescue, and healthy relationships. We also began delivering Celebration Basket to the hospitals for new parents who delivered a baby born with Down syndrome or other chromosome abnormalities. These baskets are meant to be a celebration of their beautiful life along with gifts. Most gifts have an educational tag attached, explaining how it can be beneficial for a baby born with Down syndrome. We like to welcome them to a family that they never knew they had!
Our mission statement for Down to Defend is: Educating and equipping those with intellectual and developmental disabilities by providing safety resources to lead more fulfilling life.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

As explained in the question prior, Down to Defend is here to offer different safety classes and resources to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. I am a mother to three beautiful children, one living with down syndrome.
Down to Defend is like no other. We will continue to support and equip the most vulnerable population incase any unwanted scenario may arise.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

Once I decided, I wanted to start this nonprofit I quickly realized I wouldn’t be able to do it alone. I had to hire an attorney to get our 501 C3 foundation set, with no start up money. I found an amazing attorney, who worked with me and allowed me to pay with a payment plan. At the time we were a family of four with one income. After we were officially a 501c3 I began to fundraise. We have hosted a few small fundraisers, but not nearly enough to sustain us. This February we will be hosting our first ever Gala fundraiser in hopes to raise enough money to continue our classes. Most of the money comes out of our pocket or our close family and friends. As a one income household to now a family of five it is not easy, but it is so important to me that we keep these individuals safe. All of our classes are free and inclusive to all.

We are in need of sponsors and we are hoping that after this year we can hire a grant writer to help with the funding also.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Our reputation is slowly growing. I haven’t found any other organizations who do what we do. We are still a very new organization (about two years old), and the word is starting to spread. I was nominated by our local news station for the pay it forward person of the month award. After they aired my segment, I received emails from people within the community wanting to help. I have really put myself out there when it comes to networking also. I believe networking is the best way to grow your foundation. It’s important that everyone works together for the greater good.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.downtodefend.org/
• Facebook: Www.Facebook/downtodefend