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June 14, 2011
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Many of you have been wondering, we are sure, what was happening with The Paralysis Project over the last several months. The Board of Directors has met on several occasions to discuss what would be the best course of action following the downturn in the economy and the resultant drop in donations and event revenue that had formerly sustained us for 25 years.
Among the options discussed were merging with another charity of similar size and mission as well as dissolution. Several options were discussed and extensively researched. Many meetings and discussions were held among the Executive Committee and the full Board.
On June 1, 2011 The Board of Directors of The Paralysis Project of America made the tough decision and voted to cease operations effective June 1, 2011. We believe this was the best option in support of overall spinal cord injury/disease research.
We are pleased to announce that the Board voted to donate the remaining funds from our past fundraising events of 2009 and 2010 to The Reeve Irvine Research Center at UC Irvine. This was done in close consultation with Dr. Pat Kesslak who has chaired our Scientific Advisory Board for many years. The RIRC has been a recipient of many grants from The PPA over the years and they were a natural choice for this donation.
The Board is also hopeful that our friends will choose to support one of several other charities funding Spinal Cord Injury programs and research. Some suggestions would be:
The Miami Project
The Reeve Irvine Research Center
The Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation
The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
Cure Paralysis Now
The Roman Reed Foundation
Life Rolls On
Mike Utley Foundation
This is by no means a complete list. We encourage you to do your own research and select a charity to support based on what seems like the best fit for you. There are others who are also worthy, but we cannot list them all here.
All of us cannot thank you enough for your dedication and support over the years.
We have granted more than $2,000,000 to cutting edge research. Many of these grants represent work that is continuing today. We should be most proud of our accomplishments as a foundation.
Our contact information is included in this email and we encourage your questions and comments.
With our deepest gratitude,
David E. Harmon, President
Joseph Alioto, Chairman
Kirk Thorell, Treasurer
John Leverence, Secretary
David Geffen, Executive Committee Member
BOARD MEMBERS
Mary Lee Gilliland
Robert Felton
John Weston
J. Patrick Kesslak
Lew Murez
Debra Matsumoto
Wendy Soo Hoo
Sy and Reva Alban
Lois Ungar
CONSULTANT
Catherine M. Lepone, Executive Director
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