Dear Hilary,
What a wonderful idea!  Thanks!  I have incorportated yours along with
everyone else's in an article that will go out in our newsletter, which
has a circulation of 1800.  Hope we get a good response.
Thanks for all your efforts.
nina
 

                                 PENNIES FOR PARKINSON’S
                                 (A personal plea from your editor)
 If you’re receiving this newsletter, the chances are that you or someone you know suffers from Parkinson’s disease.  The Parkinson Alliance, an action-oriented group of people directly affected by PD, has conceived a year-round campaign entitled “Pennies for Parkinson’s,” that allows everyone--caregivers, friends, family members, co-workers, churches and the general public--to become involved in helping fund the fight to find a cure.

 If you live with Parkinson’s, as I do, I encourage you to take the initiative to help yourself and join me in committing some of your time, energy and small change to this program. In doing so, keep in mind the difference between being "involved" and being "committed."  When you have bacon & eggs for breakfast, the chicken was involved by supplying the eggs, but the pig was totally committed by supplying the bacon. You are already "committed” if you are touched by
Parkinson’s, so commit yourself as well to making a difference in the battle to cure it!  You owe it to yourself to work to minimize the effects of Parkinson’s in the future.  Remember that the most important helping hand is the one at the end of your arm.

 About the program. The Parkinson’s Alliance is a grass roots advocacy and fundraising arm of the National Parkinson Foundation.   All money raised from “Pennies for Parkinson’s” will go to the Parkinson’s Research Opportunity Seed Grant Program, or PRO-Seed Program, which was designed to help promising investigators in the field of Parkinson’s research develop new proposals for submission to the National Institutes of Health for funding. Typical grants are
usually about $25,000 and the Alliance proposes to fund 100 high-quality grants for each of the next two years.  This, combined with the $2 billion increase in NIH appropriations, should ensure that we obtain at least the $100 million in focused Parkinson disease research authorized by the Udall Act. Research scientists strongly believe that with increased research funding, a
cure is on the horizon.  So let’s do our part to help them find it!

Those pennies count.  Imagine…if only 50,000 people from around the country collected only $50 in change monthly, there would be as much as $30 MILLION a year dedicated for research.

How to participate.  After you place the enclosed label on a container (piggy bank, mason jar, etc.) in your home, get your community involved.  All you have to do is tell them your personal Parkinson’s story (or I can give you a script if you feel you need it).  If everyone will make the effort, the pennies will multiply quickly.  Ideas for locations are endless, but here are a few suggestions…

 
1. Give some to your family, friends and co-workers.  Ask them to help by finding additional locations.
2. Place a container with businesses you frequent, such as your bank, pharmacy, hardware store, hairdresser, card shop, library, medical supply dealer, doctor’s offices, etc.
3. Put cans in church or synagogue classrooms.
4. Take cans to health fairs, county fairs or other gatherings.
5. Get service oriented groups such as Rotary, Lions involved.
6. Give a yard sale and donate the proceeds.
7. On those special occasions, suggest someone fill a container in place of a gift you really didn’t need.

I can send additional containers (cans) if you need them. It will make collections easier if you put the cans in locations such as supermarkets, drug chains and bookstores that have multiple cash registers.  If you can’t get out to deliver the cans, make the arrangements by phone and have someone else take them.
When the money is collected, count it yourself or take it to a bank, then have a check written to the Parkinson Alliance. Send me your checks and I will get them to the Parkinson Alliance.  For more information, additional labels and containers, write, email or call  Nina Brown
 9715 Burdine Street
 Houston, TX. 77096
 Phone:  713-729-1544
 email: [log in to unmask]

Don’t anticipate that someone else will do the work. Make the effort. You have every reason in the world to be motivated! Take charge of your life and control your own destiny!