Lexington Woman Named Finalist for Humanitarian Award

Lexington resident Lorri Unumb is in the running for a national humanitarian award, thanks to her work in the autism community in South Carolina and around the country.

Unumb was named one of four finalists for the NASCAR Foundation's Betty Jane France Humanitarian Award.  

In 2010, Unumb and her husband Dan founded the Autism Academy of South Carolina, a Columbia-based school for students between ages 3 and 21 with a medical diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. 

The academy already received a $25,000 donation from the NASCAR Foundation when Lorri was named a finalist. But now she needs your votes to help her win the grand prize of $100,000 for the school.

Vote for Unumb on the NASCAR Foundation website by checking the circle beside her name, filling out the form at the bottom and clicking "Submit." Voting ends Nov. 29.

Unumb was also instrumental in passing a South Carolina law that requires insurance companies to provide coverage for autism treatments prescribed by a child's doctor. When she was a law professor at the Charleston School of Law, she wrote the bill named "Ryan's Law" after her autistic son. It passed in 2007. 

"Ryan's Law was really born out of this sense that the situation was unfair and we could fix it," Unumb said in a video on the NASCAR Foundation website.

The law helps families get treatment for their autistic children that would be too expensive without insurance coverage. 

"I have a good education. I was able to go to law school," Unumb said. "And to be able to put that to good use and do something good for other people means a lot to me."