Meals with Jonathan
By Kevin Fritz
Sometimes it’s the simplest things in life that can make the biggest change. Jason Eichenholz made that discovery by simply sharing a meal.
The result is a win-win for his 15-year-old son Jonathan, who has autism, and for those with whom they break bread. Jason’s social experiment, which he has dubbed #mealswithjonathan, has grown into an ongoing affair attracting business leaders, friends, and colleagues, and it is helping everyone who gathers at the table.
“Usually I would just go to dinner with Jonathan, and maybe my daughter Ella would come along,” says Jason, a Baldwin Park resident. “Then we added some close friends who told me how much they learned about autism from having dinner with us. I realized I had an opportunity for awareness-building.”
As the experiment blossomed, Jason conducted a couple of trial runs with different dinner guests to gauge the response.
“I got some amazing feedback,” he says. “People would say how sweet Jonathan is. He is incredibly social.”
The dinner guests are learning about a cause close to the Eichenholz family’s heart, but Jason stresses the interaction for Jonathan is key.
“Doctors say he has his feet in both worlds – ours and his,” Jason says, describing his son’s unique journey with autism. “Our job is to pull him into ours.”
By mid-January of this year, Jason had hosted more than two dozen #mealswithjonathan with no plans to slow down. With the coronavirus pandemic in mind, dinners are strictly outdoors at local restaurants, and social distancing is observed. Some of the recent guests include Reva Fedigan, Jonathan’s speech-language therapist; Dr. M.J. Soileau, a UCF professor; Realtor Miranda Cady; Kathy Hurt Panter, the president of Junior Achievement of Central Florida; Jim Hobart (a photographer) and his wife Beth (a Realtor) of Macbeth Studios; and Angela Robbins, an environmental consultant.
Guests tell Jason they come away with a better understanding of autism and Jonathan as a person. Jonathan, in turn, receives the social interaction he needs.
“He helps you learn something about yourself,” says Angela, who has known Jason and Jonathan for more than a year. “Some people might not understand the challenges or be comfortable being around someone with special needs, but once you spend time with Jonathan, you find out how intuitive he is. These meals are helping him socialize more often, which helps improve his social behavior.”
“Our dinner guests are learning and Jonathan is relating with people he doesn’t usually interact with,” adds Jason. “He is meeting new people, and we are going out to new places. He enjoys having dinner with people he knows and people he hasn’t seen in years. Everyone is winning.”
Jonathan says one of his favorite dinner experiences – and Jason’s, too, for that matter – was a visit to 4 Rivers Smokehouse in Winter Park, courtesy of founder John Rivers, who was both the host and the #mealswithjonathan guest of honor. John gave the father-and-son duo a behind-the-scenes tour of the barbecue eatery, where they learned how the meat is smoked. Jonathan got to pick the exact amount of fries he wanted, as well as a snack portion of lean brisket.
“The dinners are fun,” says Jonathan, adding that tacos and salads are his favorite foods.
“This whole idea was, in part, really born out of COVID. We wanted to come up with ways for Jonathan to connect with people,” says Jason, who is the chief technical officer/cofounder of driverless-car company Luminar Technologies, which recently went public. “The great thing about Jonathan is how he can get along with people. He has a natural ability to connect, even with complete strangers.”