Get yourself acquainted with the 2018 Gerber baby, this lovely 1-year-old picked from over 140,000 entries by other hopeful parents all across the USA. The baby picked was Lucas Warren…
The 1-year-old from Dalton, in Georgia, is the very first baby that has Down syndrome to ever claim the coveted honor of being Gerber’s Spokesbaby!!
Ever since 2010, Gerber has held, each year, a competition to find a new face, baby-face, to represent their brand. Before the yearly contests were held they used the babyface that was drawn in charcoal, the original Gerber baby, which was Ann Turner Cook, the face of Gerber since 1927, wow!
The team at Gerber looked over many of the competition entries of lovely babies from all over the country, but after all that, it was Lucas that stood apart from all the others.
Lucas’s father, Jason Warren, was in floods of tears, completely overwhelmed with happiness, gratitude and above all, he was so proud of his son!
Cortney Warren said:
“He’s very outgoing and never meets a stranger …He loves to play, loves to laugh and loves to make other people laugh.”
Cortney entered their son into the competition because a relative had suggested it, just interested to know if others found his smile as infectious as the rest of the family did too.
Cortney said that one of his absolute best features was his lovely heart winning smile!
The proud father, with tears in his eyes told about how he wished the world would see and be more accepting and loving of children with special needs.
He said:
“We’re hoping this will impact everyone”
“[We’re hoping] that it will shed a little bit of light on the special needs community and help more individuals with special needs be accepted and not limited”
“They have the potential to change the world, just like everybody else.”
Courtney said that she has a great worry about her son as he grew up, to worry about bullies targeting him because he was different, but hopes that he will look back with pride that he was the face of Gerber!
Cortney said:
“He may have Down syndrome, but he’s always Lucas first …We’re hoping when he grows up and looks back on this, he’ll be proud of himself and not ashamed of his disability.”
Bill Partyka, CEO of Gerber, said:
“Lucas’ winning smile and joyful expression won our hearts this year, and we are all thrilled to name him our 2018 Spokesbaby.”
He also said that Lucas was the perfect fit for the company’s slogan, that every baby is a Gerber baby.
Lucas is blissfully unaware that he, even now, he is charting new territory for other kids with special needs and their families too!
His sweet smile and his bright eyes that just endure, the world will have a realyl wonderful way to see that a person with down syndrome is simply another person, to live and love!
Please SHARE this lovely and insparational story about beautiful Lucas with friends and family.