LiveLikeLou Foundation Director Suzanne Alexander shared an exciting announcement at the 2019 Presidents Leadership Conference in St. Louis, capping off a strong first year for the new organization and supporting plans for 2019.
“I am thrilled to tell you we received a gift of $100,000 from an anonymous donor in the last days of 2018,” Alexander said. The donor, she said, is not a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, but a family who has been observing the actions of the Foundation and the partnership with the Fraternity over the last year.
“People are watching you. They see you volunteering in ALS families’ homes, showing up at ALS kids’ summer camps, and raising money for ALS research on your campuses. They like what they are seeing,” Alexander said.
Phi Delta Theta Fraternity Executive Vice President & CEO Bob Biggs said, “This gift is a testament to the programs and hard work of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity members who are supporting ALS and LiveLikeLou.”
“Gifts like this don’t happen every day,” said LiveLikeLou Foundation Board Chairman WL Gray, Texas Christian ’70. The Foundation’s support for ALS patients and their families, and research to find a treatment or a cure, are meaningful to everyone who cares about this disease,” he said.
“We are so proud of the vision LiveLikeLou has developed and excited about the contributions of the Phi Delta Theta brotherhood,” he added.
In 2018, the Foundation made a three-year commitment of both funding and volunteers to the Hope Loves Company summer camp program for kids of ALS families across North America, and launched the ‘Adopt & Serve an ALS Family‘ program to match undergraduate brothers with ALS families in their communities to volunteer in their homes. The Foundation also underwrote The LiveLikeLou Emerging ALS Investigators Forum at The University of Pittsburgh’s Brain Institute, convening 60 scientists from across the country to collaborate on the neuroscience behind ALS.
Plans for 2019 include the launch of a scholarship program to offset the financial burden of the disease for children of ALS families and additional grants for research.
“The foundation has big goals in 2019,” Biggs added. “The funds we raise will help us have a very positive impact in the lives of ALS patients and their families.”
To learn more about the LiveLikeLou Foundation and its impact visit livelikelou.org.
