"To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, that is to have succeeded."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This August 2013 marks the beginning of the 5th Annual Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS. Many of you know this challenge and read these words with passion. You have taken of your time, talents and treasures in picking out and purchasing fabrics, threads, needles and batting to design a quilt that you then donate to the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge.
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| Just a few of the more than 3,300 quilts sent in from across the U.S. to the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS. |
For some of you, this is your first introduction to the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS. A little bit about the quilts: Kathy Thompson and Juanita 'Mimi' Kelly (Josh Thompson's mother and grandmother) owners of Quilters Dream Batting in Virginia Beach, Virginia started the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS after Josh was diagnosed with ALS. The challenge is an effort to raise awareness of ALS, to give the gift of a handmade quilt to ALS patients, and to raise money for ALS research by selling selected quilts.
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| PALS (patients with ALS) love receiving quilts from those donated to Hopes & Dreams. |
The response from YOU - quilters from across the nation - is amazing!
In the first three years 3,333 quilts have been donated to the challenge and of those, 2,482 quilts have been given to ALS patients (often with beautiful cards attached).
But that's not all.
In May, which is ALS Awareness month, the quilts were featured in an art, jewelry and quilt exhibit and sale at Richard Stravitz 30th Street Fine Art Gallery in Virginia Beach. 100% of the proceeds of the sales of quilts and 20% of the proceeds from sales of art at the gallery were donated to ALS Research. On June 25, Kathy Thompson and Richard Stravitz presented Emory University Neurosurgeon Dr. Nicholas Boulis with a $50,000 ALS Research grant. Here's the presentation:
Dr. Boulis works in stem cell research and performed the first FDA approved stem cell surgery at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as all surgeries for the first ever stem cell trial in ALS. he is training surgeons across the United States and the world in this very specialized surgery and will travel to Italy later this summer to help with their first stem cell surgery. Dr. Boulis received this research grant to continue to work in MRI guided implementation of stem cells and drug therapy directly into the spinal cord.
Many of the Hopes & Dreams Quilts 4 ALS are at the Richard Stravitz 30th Street Fine Art Gallery (30th Street and Pacific Avenue) in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
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| Hopes & Dreams Quilts are on permanent display and available for purchase with 100% of the proceeds going to ALS Research at the Richard Stravitz 30th Street Gallery (30th Street and Pacific Avenue), 3004 Pacific Avenue, Virginia Beach. |
We will soon have an online presence on Store Envy.com where quilts will be available for purchase. 100% of the proceeds from sales of quilts will go to ALS Research
If you are learning of the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS for the first time, or know of the challenge and want to participate, please visit our website at http://hopesanddreams.quiltersdreambatting.com or "like" us on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quilters-Dream-Batting-sponsoring-Hopes-and-Dreams-Quilt-Challenge-for-ALS/150913912237.
We will be blogging more on the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS, including updates on people with ALS who are receiving your quilts and the extraordinary research that is taking place that will one day provide the hope of treatment and the dream of a cure for ALS. You can subscribe to this blog post by clicking on the link below.
Thank you - for your love and support as we find a cure for ALS - one quilt at a time!
The Dream Team
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