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A small foundation with an unlimited heart.

The N.O.A.H. Foundation — Nurturing Opportunities for Autism & Hope — was created by one family to support many. We are neighbors helping neighbors, building a community of strength around the families who need it most.

$500–$1,500

Per Family Grant

4×

Cycles per Year

501(c)(3)

Tax-Exempt

The N.O.A.H. Foundation was created to help families affected by profound autism access small but meaningful supports — from therapy tools and adaptive equipment to respite and family experiences.

Mission

Direct support, delivered with heart.

To provide small, meaningful grants to families navigating profound autism — easing the burden of therapies, assistive devices, adaptive equipment, and respite needs.

Vision

A world without isolation.

Where every family navigating profound autism has access to the resources, support, and community they need to thrive — beginning locally, growing with care.

Promise

Strength Without Limits.

Direct, personal, immediate support for families when they need it most. Grounded in firsthand experience. Stewarded with transparency. Always family-first.

The Genty Story

This work began with one boy, and one family's love.

The N.O.A.H. Foundation is named for Noah — our son, our reason, our reminder that strength comes in countless forms. Noah's journey began around age one, when small concerns became harder to ignore and milestones weren't being met.

What followed was years of therapies, hospital stays, surgeries, and the kind of advocacy that only fierce love can sustain. We've sat through long IEP meetings, reviewed endless assessments, and learned how heavy the road can feel. We've spent late nights researching therapies and early mornings holding tight hands. We've been told things we wished we hadn't, and watched our son prove every limit wrong.

We started The N.O.A.H. Foundation because we know how heavy this road can feel — and how much one timely, no-strings-attached gift can mean. We are families helping families, neighbors helping neighbors. That's the only way we know how to do this.

Age 1

Global Developmental Delay

Milestones missed. Early Intervention begins. Physical, occupational, and speech therapy start.

Age 5

Autism Level 3 & IDD

Diagnosed at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities. Continued therapies and special education support.

2024

MeRT Therapy & Beyond

Pursuing innovative therapies and watching independence grow — bike rides, swim lessons, music therapy.

2026

The Foundation Begins

Turning a family's experience into a community of support — built so other families don't walk this road alone.

Meet Noah

The boy behind the foundation.

Noah is the heart of everything we do. He loves bananas and peanut butter, loud and fast cars, and running barefoot on the beach. He recognizes family on his picture board and lights up at the sound of a leaf blower next door.

Noah is non-verbal, but he is never silent. Music is his language — he's almost always humming a favorite tune, and nothing makes him happier than when we recognize the song and sing it back to him. Those moments of connection are among the ones we cherish most.

For every difficult day, there have been countless moments of pure joy. We celebrated his first steps after being told he might never walk. We held our breath through his first airplane ride — a trip we'd dreaded for years — and watched him love every minute of it. We've seen him gain confidence on his bike, navigate stairs on his own, ride go-karts with his dad, and reach milestones many once thought were out of reach.

Every day, Noah teaches us something about perseverance, resilience, and unconditional joy. He shows us what strength without limits truly looks like.

Why Profound Autism

Why we focus where the need is greatest.

Autism is truly a spectrum, and we deeply respect that every individual and family navigating it faces their own unique challenges and triumphs. Our focus, however, is intentionally and unapologetically centered on Profound Autism — individuals who are unable to perform basic day-to-day self-care and require constant, hands-on assistance throughout every moment of their lives.

These are the children and adults who cannot independently bathe, dress, eat, or communicate their most basic needs, and whose families live in a state of perpetual caregiving that few outside this world can fully understand. The struggles are relentless: sleepless nights, safety concerns, limited respite, isolation from typical community life, and a future filled with uncertainty about long-term care.

We exist to stand alongside these families — because while every voice on the spectrum matters, the families carrying the weight of profound autism deserve a community built specifically for them.

Moments of strength, joy, and wonder.

A glimpse into the everyday reality that fuels this work — and the families we hope to support.

A Letter From Stephanie

To every family walking this road —

If you're reading this, you may already know how isolating profound autism can feel. The therapies that aren't covered. The equipment that's just out of reach. The respite that never quite fits the budget. The IEP meetings that ask more of you than seems possible.

We know, because we've lived it.

The N.O.A.H. Foundation exists to take a small piece of that weight off your shoulders. We aren't a clinical program. We aren't a research institution. We are simply a family — and a small, growing community — who believe that direct, no-strings-attached support, delivered with care, can change a season.

If we can make one more therapy session possible, get one more child the device that unlocks their voice, give one more parent a weekend to breathe — we'll have done what we set out to do. And then we'll do it again.

You are not alone. With deep love and steady hope,

Stephanie Genty

Founder, The N.O.A.H. Foundation