Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Please Help: Chance to Create and Help Find a Cure for ALS

Sorry for the short notice. Just received this today:
Here's a Disappearing Nine-Patch Quilt I've been
working on to donate to Hopes and Dreams Quilts
HOPES and DREAMS QUILT CHALLENGE FOR ALS

MONTH-LONG QUILT SHOW AND CELEBRATION
OF MOMS IN MAY

We have some exciting news to share with you, and while it is quick notice, we think you might want to participate. The Hopes and Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS has been given the opportunity to have a month-long celebration of moms and the special women in our lives beginning the first weekend in May - just in time for Mother’s Day! The Richard Stravitz 30th Street Gallery on Pacific Avenue at the beach will feature quilts sent in from all over the United States to benefit people living with ALS (known by many as Lou Gehrig’s Disease), as well as raise much needed funds for ALS Research In addition to the quilts, there will be artwork capturing the loving essence of women in the form of oil paintings, watercolors, jewelry, mixed media, hand blown glass and sculpture.

We know this is very quick notice – but we thought it would be nice to have an array of small quilted art to sell with 100% of the proceeds benefiting ALS Research. In particular we thought it would be nice to have a selection of fabric postcards that visitors to the beach area could purchase and mail to their mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters and even best friends.

If you are interested in participating in this opportunity and would like to donate a small quilted item and/or fabric postcard(s), we would love to have them by April 28. For every small quilted item and/or fabric postcard received, you will be entered to win one full case of assorted Quilters Dream Batting.

You can drop off your fabric postcards and small quilt items at the following locations:

A Different Touch Fabric Hut - give to Shilo on Mon – Thurs; Saturday (no Friday)

1107 S. Military Highway 2340 E. Little Creek Road

Chesapeake, VA 23320 Norfolk, VA 23518

Nancy’s Calico Patch SEW EZ What’s Your Stitch ‘n Stuff

21 Hidden Shopping Center 2858 Airline Blvd. 5350 Kemps River Drive Ste. 104

Newport News, VA 23606 Portsmouth, VA 23701 Virginia Beach, VA 23464

Quilters Dream Batting

589 Central Drive

Virginia Beach, VA 23454



Hopes and Dreams for a Cure

Art, Jewelry and Quilts Celebrating Moms



Entry Form

We thank you for participating in this opportunity to help find a cure for ALS by providing small quilted items and/or fabric postcards that will be on display and for sale during the month of May at the Richard Stravitz 30th Street Fine Art Gallery in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Please attach this Entry Form to the back of your donation so that we may have a complete list of individuals who are graciously giving of their time, talents and treasures to help raise much needed funds for ALS Research (known by many as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Each donation will be entered into a drawing for one full case of assorted Quilters Dream Batting.

Item Donated: _____________________________________________________________________________________

Name: ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Phone: ___________________________________________________________________________________________

Address: __________________________________________________________________________________________

City: _________________________________________________ State: ________________ Zip: _________________

Email: ____________________________________________________________________________________________

Description of your quilt or postcard: ___________________________________________________________________

 

I agree that my quilt and/or postcard become the sole property of the Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge and may be photographed, displayed and sold for the purpose of raising much needed funds for ALS Research:



Signature: _____________________________________________ Date: _________________________________
More about the disease:

It was in the summer of 1939 that a rare disease called Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) was given a national voice. Baseball legend, Lou Gehrig, stood on the field at Yankee Stadium on July 4 and delivered one of the most memorable speeches in American history, announcing to the world that "today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." Less than two years later, at the age of 38, Lou Gehrig, died of ALS.

Seven decades there is still no treatment or cure and even though ALS is one of the most common neurological diseases, the cause of ALS remains a mystery. What is known is that ALS is on the rise… with as many patients being diagnosed with ALS as MS, but ALS is considered 100% fatal. USA military veterans, particularly those deployed during the Gulf War, have been especially vulnerable to ALS. Our veterans are approximately twice as likely to develop ALS, a disorder that affects and destroys the function of nerves and muscles – while usually leaving its victim’s sense of touch/feeling and intelligence intact.

"Studies show that there is approximately a 66%-percent greater chance of our military veterans being diagnosed with ALS," says Kathy Thompson, founder of the non-profit Hopes & Dreams, Inc., and mother to son, Josh Thompson, who is living with ALS. "Our brave men and women of our military fight on the battlefield yet way too often come home to fight an unbeatable enemy known as ALS. Not only are more military veterans being diagnosed with ALS, we are seeing so many more athletes and younger men and women, including children, being diagnosed with this cruel and devastating disease that has no known cure," adds Thompson.

 
Thompson knows all about ALS. Her 32 year- old son Josh was diagnosed with the disease in 2007. In an effort to honor her son and to keep any other mother from witnessing the daily devastation of this disease that progressively destroys all muscle movement in the body, Thompson created Hopes and Dreams, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit focused on funding ALS Research.

In May, the Richard Stravitz 30 Street Gallery in Virginia Beach will host a month-long exhibit and sale to help Thompson find a cure. The Hopes and Dreams for a Cure for ALS art and quilt exhibit will celebrate moms and the women in our lives by featuring a collection of fine art, jewelry, and quilts that expresses the beauty and nurturing spirit of moms everywhere.

The Gallery will showcase works by master artists in watercolor, oil painting, hand blown glass, sculpture, textiles and jewelry. Gallery owner and award-winning sculptor Richard Stravitz will be donating a portion of the sale of the artwork and jewelry to ALS Research.

"I have had the unfortunate opportunity to witness this cruel disease first hand in the lives of friends and loved ones who are struggling to walk, talk, eat and breathe on a daily basis," says Richard Stravitz. "Having been touched by their strength and will to live, I want to honor them and thousands of others by helping to raise funds so that a cure can be found through research."

The Gallery will also be filled with colorful, exquisitely detailed quilts donated by women across the USA to raise money for a cure for ALS. The Hopes and Dreams Quilts are a national exhibit of hand and machine quilted wall hangings and bed quilts, many made and donated by family members and friends of people living with ALS.

"Quilters are an extremely generous community and the Hopes and Dreams Quilts are a present to all of us fighting for a cure, " says Thompson. "This exhibit is an opportunity to find a lovely gift for moms and the women in our lives knowing that 100% of the proceeds from the sales of quilts, as well as lovely artist painted cards and fabric postcards specifically made for this month-long celebration, benefits ALS Research."

The Hopes and Dreams for a Cure for ALS exhibit and sale opens Saturday, May 4 and runs through Saturday, June 1st at the Richard Stravitz 30th Street Gallery, 30th & Pacific Avenue in Virginia Beach. The gallery will be open on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 12th.

For more information, visit 
or call the Richard Stravitz 30th Street Gallery at (757) 961-7509 or Quilters Dream Batting at (757) 463-3264.
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1 comment:

Jennifer said...

Thank you for sharing this information, Dawn. We have extended the deadline to May 6 and will certainly accept and use any donations of fabric postcards and quilts after this date. Our goal is to raise funds for ALS Research and your assistance in promoting this effort is a gift of love.

Jennifer Griffin
Hopes & Dreams