Gentlemen Prefer…Fighting ALSFor the Virginia Gentlemen, it’s “nobody should be deprived of a day at the beach” and more. 
The Virginia Gentlemen evolved from an after-work get-together one Tuesday night when the group was musing on what talented young men could do for the world. “One thing’s for sure,” says one Gentleman; “we do know how to throw a party!” For Josh Thompson, who’d never met a good wave he didn’t want to surf, living in Virginia Beach and not being beside his wife and children when they’re at the ocean has been one of the most hurtful things about ALS. Pushing a wheelchair to the beach, across the sand and down to the surf just doesn’t work. Christopher Thompson, also a surfer, knew what his brother must be feeling. And that became the start of an unusual alternative for anyone who can’t get down to the beach. Enter the Virginia Gentlemen Foundation, an organization of thirteen young men—age 25 to 34—with an inordinate amount of drive, goodwill and can-do spirit. It was the Gentlemen, including founding member Chris Thompson, who raised the $1 million-plus to build and maintain a wheelchair-accessible park on the Virginia Beach oceanfront. The Gentlemen are also great friends of the Packard Center—more on that below.  Called JT’s Grommet* Island Beach Park and Playground for Every Body, the unique beach oasis opened this spring for those with or without physical handicaps. Its wheelchair-friendly pads afford a shaded view of the sea. Gentle ramps let users move above beach level. “That’s important,” explains Gentleman spokesperson Ross Viera, “because, our advisor told us, all wheelchair-users typically get to see at the beach are peoples’ backs.”
Most important for sea souls like Josh Thompson: sand-negotiating balloon-tire wheelchairs are available to take users right to the surf’s edge. But as valuable as Grommet Island is and as fine as it is that the Gentlemen could set it up, their longest-lasting contribution will probably be to ALS research. Since their beginning in 2007, they’ve held fundraisers ranging from a mass Halloween party to giant oyster-and-Superbowl-fests. That's not to mention their “Feast to Fight ALS” and a gala formal ball and auction. Their hugely successful “JT Walk Team” that’s been part of the ALS Association’s Walk to Defeat ALS has netted over $3 million. And every year, the Virginia Gentlemen have enabled Packard Center research that’s brought greater understanding of ALS’s mechanisms—the sort of work that’s a basis for new therapies. This year, their Josh Thompson Grant of $170,000 has gone to Packard director, Jeffrey Rothstein and Packard investigator Nicholas Maragakis, both at Johns Hopkins, to advance their studies of stem cells as therapy. Packard investigator Jonathan Glass at Emory University—he’s conducting stem cell trials there in ALS patients—received their $130,000 Hope Grant. And the Virginia Gentlemen’s $25,000 Foundation grant will help human neural stem cell studies by the Center’s Clive Svendsen at the University of Wisconsin. | 
