Making An Impact…Programs & Beneficiaries of the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, Inc.

IN-HOUSE PROGRAMS

The Patient Fund

This fund is designed to assist our patients with the unique financial needs caused by living with ALS. Please contact our office at (508) 759-9696 if you have any questions or if you need assistance.

The Heath Millward Vacation Fund

This fund provides patients and their families with vacations that will allow them to celebrate their lives together. We hope to fulfill the wishes of two families each year to allow them to escape with an adventure that will help them build lasting memories. If travel is not in your plans, other opportunities (such as family reunions) exist through this fund.

Applications are now being accepted for the vacation fund. We ask that interested parties submit a letter explaining their “adventure” (max. $2,000). Please forward requests to curealsnow3@aol.com or to the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, Inc. at P.O. Box 229 Buzzards Bay , MA 02532 . The Foundation Board will have the final determination of the allocation of the Vacation Fund.

The Children’s Program

Tailored to meet the needs of children impacted by this disease by providing financial assistance for expenses such as the holidays, back to school shopping and summer camp.

We want to make sure that we make these programs available to as many children as possible. If you or any patients you know have children that would be interested in participating in the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation’s children’s program please contact us with the names, telephone numbers, and/or e-mail address of the families.

Please contact the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, Inc. office at:
P.O. Box 229
Buzzards Bay , MA 02532
(508) 759-9696
alsfamily@aol.com

The Jan Ferrara “Get Away for a Day Fund” , providing funds for individuals or groups of patients or caregivers to enjoy an outing of their choosing.

A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, Inc., Scholarship offsets the financial strain of a college education for a child of an A.L.S. patient. Our goal is to offer two scholarships a year to a deserving student attending an accredited school. If you or someone you know would like to be considered as a recipient for the Scholarship, please contact our office.

Please call us or email Mary Ann at Curealsnow3@aol.com for more information about any of the following programs.

BENEFICIARIES

Research conducted by Dr. Robert Brown at Massachusetts General Hospital

The A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, Inc. is proud to support the research efforts of Dr. Robert Brown at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Brown, a renowned neurologist specializing in A.L.S. research, has been an integral part of several collaborations worldwide that have led to advancements in the search for a cure. The laboratory has been studying gene defects that cause A.L.S. for more than twenty years. Dr. Brown’s Day Laboratory for Neuromuscular Research at Mass General Hospital has produced some of the most cutting edge and creative projects.

Currently, Dr. Brown and his staff at the Day Laboratory are investigating leads in the areas of environmental research and gene therapies, etc. With the substantial donation from the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, a fellowship has been created in the name of the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation that will allow Dr. Brown and his staff to research a number of environmental toxins and their relationship to A.L.S.

The A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation Fellowship

“To examine the interaction between the environment and an individual’s genetic signature, we propose to analyze a set of genes that are involved in the metabolism of environmental toxins,” said Dr. Bryan Traynor, who is working on this project under the directorship of Brown. “The location and nature of these genes is already known from studies of other neurological diseases. We will compare the genomes of a large group of A.L.S. patients with an equal number of normal, non-diseased individuals. A defect that is found more commonly in the genomes of A.L.S. patients than in normal individuals may indicate that this particular gene is important for the cause of A.L.S. This research will help to identify which individuals in the community are susceptible to A.L.S. and what chemical toxin in the environment may underlie this neurodegenerative disease.”

David M. Dorfman Research Fund at the ALS Therapy Development Foundation

Leading Drug Discovery for Today's ALS Patients

The ALS Therapy Development Foundation (ALSTDF) is a nonprofit biotechnology company discovering treatments for patients alive today. Their in-house expertise translates research into potential drug candidates by screening drugs in laboratory mice. The scientific collaborations are designed to bring the most promising leads closer to patient use.

The A.L.S. Therapy Development Foundation now runs the largest centralized drug discovery facility for ALS. In less than two years of operation, this laboratory has tested 45 drugs and performed 82 drug-screening studies. In addition, ALS-TDF is partnering with leading academic and biotechnology companies.

Current projects for ALSTDF include drug screening from a group of exciting new drug prospects that have emerged after undergoing the first round of testing. Each of these drugs has shown positive results in both neurological score and survival. These drugs will now move to repeat testing where the ALSTDF research team will try to validate the initial positive results. Any compounds that show a positive effect two or more times will be sent for optimization toward human trials.

Compassionate Care, ALS /Gordon T. Heald ALS Fund

Compassionate Care, Inc. serves the wide-ranging needs of families dealing with ALS. Unique to its mission is that it serves both patients and caregivers. The Gordon T. Heald ALS Fund has been helping ALS families subsidize the cost of durable goods such as ramps, chairlifts, reclining chairs, and bath chairs as well as living assistance for house cleaning, rent, mortgage, utilities and prescriptions since 1998.

Compassionate Care, Inc. takes a comprehensive approach to the treatment of the patients and families within their system. Their goal is to guide victims through the trauma of A.L.S. by offering a range of services that helps individuals to live as fully as possible within the parameters of the disease.

ALS March of Faces

The ALS March of Faces Banner is a pictorial display, which represents the courageous men and women who have been stricken with (ALS). The mission of the ALS March of Faces is to provide a resource where PALS (People with ALS), their caregivers, families and friends, can empower themselves to better their lives and help accelerate the process of finding a cure. (Information sited directly from the ALS March of Faces website, www.march-of-faces.org).

The Foundation has enjoyed a relationship with the March of Faces for many years. Now the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation is joining the ALS March of Faces to bring the important use of the banner for Awareness, Advocacy and Fundraising closer to home.

A banner will be made expressly for the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, Inc. that will feature PALS from all over New England.

Check out the A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, Inc. banner on-line.

The A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation and the March of Faces need your help in building our Community Banner. If you already have a photo on the March of Faces banner, simply contact the March of Faces to approve your involvement on the new community banner. Contact the March of Faces via e-mail at banner@march-of-faces.org or by calling at (877) 884-4798. Write the March of Faces at 4016 Royal Wood Blvd. Naples, FL  34112.

March of Faces Form

New photos are being accepted as well. Anyone wishing to participate in the March of Faces, A.L.S. Family Charitable Foundation, Inc. Community Banner should contact the March of Faces directly for instructions on sending photos, etc.