Founders' Award

2023 Founder's Award Recipients Bryan and Julie West

Bryan and Julie West are the 2023 recipients of the Founders' Award, created in 2016 to honor Parent representatives who exemplify the vision set by our founders, Elise McMillan, Sheila Moore and Joanne Drumright.

Bryan and Julie, parents of Clara, are parent representatives and County Connectors that have gone above and beyond to welcome families to the Down syndrome community. The Wests have never said "no" to being parent representatives for any family and are an asset not only to DSAMT but the entire Down syndrome community. They regularly put the needs of our families first, making sure we don’t miss any families in the Upper Cumberland region of Middle TN. They currently coordinate events and assist families in 14 counties and truly go above and beyond with their visits to families, delivery of resources and information, working with the community to build awareness and communicating the needs of families to DSAMT staff, creating original and fun events, and too many other examples to name.