Marshall Gelfand, Elizabeth Gelfand Stearns and Senator Edward Markey

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Dear Friends and Family,

I am so excited to share with you news of the incredible honor involving the Alzheimer's Association's® Sargent and Eunice Shriver Profiles in Dignity Award. My father, Marshall Gelfand, and The Judy Fund were presented with this award at the National Alzheimer's Dinner in Washington, D.C., a part of the Alzheimer's Association 2014 Advocacy Forum. Our family is grateful for this honor and humbled to join the ranks of its previous recipients.

The Alzheimer's Association's Sargent and Eunice Shriver Profiles in Dignity 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.

With your help, the Judy Fund has crossed many corners of the Alzheimer's fight. A small sampling of the initiatives the fund has helped to underwrite at the Alzheimer's Association includes nine research grants, such as 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; the California Southland Chapter's work with the Memory Assessment Center in Rancho Mirage; and the annual sponsorship of the Association's national Ambassadors program, which identifies and educates advocates to work with state and federal legislators to influence policy and law aimed at changing the course of Alzheimer's disease. The Ambassadors program is often cited as a key ingredient in the institution of the landmark National Alzheimer's Project Act (NAPA), a law that put into place a structure for creating a federal plan for Alzheimer's disease in America.

We were so glad that representatives of Sigma Alpha Mu Fraternity could attend the presentation as well. Marshall has been a proud member of SAM since 1950. In 2005 the fraternity adopted the Alzheimer's Association's Judy Fund as its national charity of choice, and now young "Sammies," as they are known, work every year on campuses nationwide to raise funds to benefit The Judy Fund and to increase awareness. We are proud of these young men and grateful for the fraternity's partnership.

This is an award for them and for all of us.

I take pride in sharing the Shriver Award with you and with everyone who has supported The Judy Fund. You made this possible. There is so much more we can do together please consider making a donation today to help us reach the next great milestone. You are the beginning of the end of Alzheimer's disease.


Gratefully,
Elizabeth Gelfand Stearns
Chair, The Judy Fund