Great grandson of Moreno's appeared on NYC Times Square jumbo tron

Miller Delores Moreno of Kiowa, Kansas, is so proud of her 13-month old grandson she had to share his news. It's not often that the face of a Kansas child appears on one of the jumbo trons in Times Square at New York City. Joey has Down syndrome and his face was one of the 400 selected from 2,000 children with the syndrome to appear on the screen Sept. 16. Joey's mother is Kristianna Moreno, who describes her son as "amazing." Joey's father is Bryan Nowlin.

They live at Wichita. Moreno is the daughter of Monica and Carlos Moreno. Carlos grew up in Kiowa, the son of Delores and Mario Moreno. Explaining how Joey appeared in Times Square, Kristianna Moreno said, "The contest came about as a surprise. My awesome older sister, Jazmyn, entered his picture in as a surprise many months ago and refused to tell me what she needed his picture for until the contest was over and we found out he had been selected.""We feel very blessed and honored that they see how special Joey is like we do," Moreno said. She explained their regiment for Joey. "We go through the Rainbows program for early intervention so that he can stay as much on track as possible from the beginning.

Through Rainbows he has his own little team: a social worker, PT, OT and speech. We do once-a-week therapy sessions that help me and Joey learn together how to incorporate different therapy into his everyday life, so that way he sees it more as playing and fun rather than work. He's really been thriving and picks things up so quickly, so I'm one happy and proud momma!"

Down Syndrome Buddy Walk and 5K Saturday in Wichita. Joey's Team will participate in the Down Syndrome Society of Wichita's Buddy Walk and 5K Saturday at Wichita State University. The 5K starts at 8:30 a.m., with the Buddy Walk at 11 a.m. The Buddy Walk is a 1-mile leisure walk followed by lunch and fun activities like a bouncy house, face painting, clowns, etc. The purpose is to help promote acceptance and inclusion of people with Down syndrome. It's an inspirational and educational event to celebrate the many activities and accomplishments of people with Down syndrome. To donate to Joey's Team, go to runsignup.com. That will take you to the Down Syndrome Society of Wichita Buddy Walk site. Hit the donate button. When asked for a team, type Joey. You'll go through just a few more steps to make your donation. The whole process takes about five minutes. Take one look at Joey's sweet face and you'll know you paid it forward today.