Causes
EML Fund
I created an educational website for my nephew, the son of my twin sister, once I learned he was diagnosed with a rare progressive neurodegenerative disease that has no cure called Friedreich’s Ataxia (FA). I help my sister with her yearly fundraisers to try and get corporate sponsors to join the cause and to create awareness in the community and I also try to raise money for the family to help support them with medical expenses. www.emlfund.com
FARA (Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance)
I stopped my consulting practice for one year to serve as Development Officer for FARA from December 2006 – December 2007. In less than a year, I helped raise over $1 M in funding from angel and corporate donors and through working with grassroots fundraisers to elevate their events. I also assisted FARA in creating marketing materials to pitch the organization, a video to showcase their work and developed their Website. The money my sister raises each year at her fundraiser goes to FARA to advance research towards treatments and a cure. www.cureFA.org
Canadian Association for Familial Ataxias Claude St-Jean Foundation
Based in Montreal, the Claude St-Jean Foundation has served the ataxia community with educational resources and funding for research towards treatments and a cure since 1972. www.lacaf.org
BabelFAmily
I am a board member of BabelFAmily, an international organization based in Spain, that brings information, people and associations together worldwide to share information about Friedriech’s Ataxia to speed research and knowledge sharing. www.babelfamily.org
Haiti
I sponsor a little boy in Haiti through the charity called, “La Congrégation des petites Surs de Ste-Thérèse.” The organization was founded in 1948 by a Haitian priest called Reverend Father Louis Charles Farnèse. The congregation is devoted to the poorest and the most destitute populations living in the mountains of Haïti and supports the development of projects and individual people. Currently, more than 120 young Haïtians are sponsored and 35 have graduated with good paying jobs. Administration is minimal and all of the people that work in the office are voluntary.