On Center

Three Strategies, One Goal

No matter how hard Packard Center researchers work to find a cure for ALS, exorbitant costs can bring investigations to a screeching halt. Small wonder, then, that the Center depends on sustained fund raising. This year’s ALS symposium recognized the generosity of three groups.

Award winners Dennis Dias, Kailee Scales, Chris Angell and Larry Schiffer (accepting for Toni Diamond) at Baltimore's Inner Harbor. Not pictured: Chris Pendergast.

Chris Angell, president and founding member of the Kornfeld Foundation, recalls his group’s early days: “We wanted a center where researchers could increase the pace and intensity of investigations.” Their revolutionary approach set the tone for the Center. The group’s original pledge of $4 million is about to be paid off.

Toni Diamond and her husband, Warren Schiffer, meanwhile, redefined the Packard Center’s collaboration with the Muscular Dystrophy Association to create Wings of Hope, later renamed Wings Over Wall Street®. Diamond was diagnosed with ALS in 2000. Over the past three years, the couple worked with the MDA Wings committee to raise $3.7 million. Dennis Dias and his staff from MDA nurtured the project, garnering even more support. Now, MDA's Wings Over Wall Street® is a major annual fund-raising event.

Finally, Chris Pendergast’s Ride for Life organization helped sponsor an important drug-screening project. Diagnosed with ALS in 1993, Pendergast—an award-winning teacher—galvanized students to sponsor him as he traveled by wheelchair from New York to Washington, D.C., raising more than $55,000 for the Packard Center.

Center Director Jeff Rothstein, who led the symposium, observed, “I have no doubt these vital philanthropic partners will continue to build awareness for us. We are most grateful.”

Insider's View
In this issue, Dr. John Griffin discusses primary lateral sclerosis (PLS), a disease that, in early stages, is often difficult to distinguish from ALS.