Maria Shriver, Coach Pat Summitt and Elizabeth Gelfand Stearns

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I am so thrilled to share with you that my father, Marshall Gelfand, and The Judy Fund are being presented with the Alzheimer's Association's® Sargent and Eunice Shriver Profiles in Dignity Award at the National Alzheimer's Dinner at the Renaissance Washington, D.C. Downtown Hotel on the evening of Tuesday, April 8. Our family is grateful for this honor that we share with you, our 1600 donors across the country, who over a decade have brought us to reach this milestone. Because of you we can proudly say that The Judy Fund is the fastest growing family fund in the history of the Alzheimer's Association; this year surpassing $5 million in funds raised and granted for Alzheimer's research and public policy efforts. We could not be more proud or grateful and it's all thanks to you!

The Alzheimer's Association's Shriver Award recognizes an individual, organization or company whose actions have promoted greater understanding of Alzheimer's disease and its effects on diagnosed individuals, families and caregivers. Past recipients of this prestigious award include Princess Yasmin Aga Khan, chair of the Alzheimer's Association Rita Hayworth Galas, which honor her mother, who died from Alzheimer's; Hall of Fame women's basketball coach Pat Summitt, who bravely announced her Alzheimer's diagnosis; and filmmakers James Keach and Trevor Albert, directors of a documentary on legendary singer Glen Campbell, who continued to tour and make records after developing the disease.

I also am pleased to invite you to join us at the National Alzheimer's Dinner. Tickets may be purchased here. As a supporter of The Judy Fund, which is the largest family fund in the history of the Alzheimer's Association, this award is for you and for all of those who have helped us to raise over $5 million to support the research, care and support and public policy efforts of the Association. The impact that we have had on the fight against Alzheimer's will change the lives of individuals facing this disease.

Annually this evening, which takes place during the Alzheimer's Association Advocacy Forum, brings together over 900 supporters to raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease and benefit the care, support and research efforts of the Association. Bringing together our country's most influential and respected political, business, philanthropic, entertainment, media, social and advocacy leaders, we will celebrate advances in the fight against Alzheimer's and rally around the growing movement to end the disease.

If you are unable attend, I respectfully ask you to consider making a gift in honor of the good work of my dad and The Judy Fund on this momentous occasion. Thank you.

The Judy Fund's efforts have crossed many corners of the Alzheimer's fight. A small sampling of the initiatives the Fund has helped to underwrite includes nine research grants, including New Investigator and Pioneer Award grants; serving as the lead sponsor of the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Ride, a 2010 event with researchers bicycling to Capitol Hill to deliver petition signatures to Congress; sponsorship of the Association's Ambassadors program; and the California Southland Chapter's work with the Memory Assessment Center in Rancho Mirage, CA.

Regardless of whether you can join us on this memorable evening, I hope you will please take pride in sharing the Shriver Award with us and everyone who has supported The Judy Fund. You made this possible.

You are the beginning of the end of Alzheimer's disease.

Gratefully,
Elizabeth Elizabeth Gelfand Stearns
Chair, The Judy Fund