SHORT HILLS, N.J., July 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation (CDRF) announced today that it has awarded approximately $900,000 in Quality of Life grants to nearly 100 non-profit organizations nationwide. Alseres Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the field of development of diagnostic and therapeutic products for central nervous system (CNS) disorders and nerve repair, has donated $25,000 to the Quality of Life grants program, enabling additional organizations to receive funding for their life enhancing programs. Created by the late Dana Reeve in 1999, the bi- annual Quality of Life grants program supports organizations that help people living with disabilities become more fully integrated members of society. To date, 1,262 grants have been awarded totaling just over $10 million.
“Across the country, countless organizations are dedicated to improving the quality of life of people living with disabilities such as paralysis, and are essentially unsung heroes. Dana Reeve was inspired by the work of these organizations and the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation carries on her mission to recognize and reward them for their programs that significantly impact and improve various aspects of peoples’ lives,” said Peter T. Wilderotter, president of CDRF. “Alseres Pharmaceuticals shares the Foundation’s passion to enable people to overcome disabilities and challenges and their generous donation to the Quality of Life grants program will aid those that need it most.”
The financial donation from Alseres (www.alseres.com) funds five $5,000 grants, including one to Advocates for the Disabled, Inc. in Phoenix, Arizona for its Disability Claims Program, which assists people with disabilities in pursuing their rightful claims to benefits that will allow them to live in dignity with a decent quality of life. Services for Children with Hidden Intelligence (SCHI) will use its grant towards the building of a universally accessible Boundless Playground at the new school in Lakewood, New Jersey. Other grants will support the VSA arts of Pennsylvania disability arts festival in October 2007 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Just One Break, New York, New York for employment services; and Marin Center for Independent Living, San Rafael, California, for personal care attendant registry services and searchable database for consumers.
Of the current cycle of Quality of Life grants, $63,500 will finance four programs that directly benefit paralyzed members of the military. This includes a grant awarded to the Achilles Track Club’s initiative to motivate, engage and train recently paralyzed military service men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan to become wheelchair athletes in marathons such as the Marine Corps Marathon or the ING New York City Marathon.
Among additional Quality of Life grant recipients is The Arts and Quality of Life Research Center at Temple University, which will apply its grant to support its “Singing for Tomorrow: The Use of Songwriting as an Expressive Medium for Hospitalized Children with Spinal Cord Injury” -- a program that provides spinal cord injured inpatients at Shriners Hospital for Children in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with individual songwriting sessions to enhance their expression of feelings and facilitate their coping with spinal cord injury. A grant to Camp Twin Lakes in Atlanta, Georgia will help fund a project that will form a partnership with the Shepherd Center for Rehabilitation in Atlanta and the Brasstown Valley Resort to offer therapeutic horsemanship, golf clinics and other on-site programs to encourage individuals with spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury to grow physically and emotionally.
The CDRF Quality of Life grants are awarded in 13 categories, including health promotion, employment, sports and recreation, and advocacy, to fund programs across the globe that help people with paralysis become more fully integrated members of society. Grants that focus on improving the health of individuals are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Cooperative Agreement number U10/CCU220379).
About CDRF
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. For more information, and to review the entire list of Quality of Life grant recipients, please visit our website at www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.
Dana Reeve Foundation
The Christopher and
CONTACT: Maggie Goldberg of The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation,+1-800-225-0292, Ext. 7115, media@christopherreeve.org; or Shaun Leavy,+1-201-964-2427, SLeavy@mww.com, for The Christopher and Dana ReeveFoundation
