We’ll resist the temptation to say that two University of Colorado researchers were singing for their supper – if for no other reason than the event we’re writing about was a midmorning brunch – by taking part in AWARE’s annual meeting.
But there’s no getting around that Drs. John Sladek and Victoria Pelak left the Denver Country Club with one terrific doggy bag.
Instead of leftovers, it contained a pledge that members of this guild of the Alzheimer’s Association of Colorado will provide $240,000 over the next three years to help fund Pelak’s development of new methods that could help distinguish patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease from normal aging patterns, or from patients with other neuro-degenerative diseases.
Sladek, the vice chancellor for research at the CU Health Sciences Center, delivered the meeting’s keynote address. Along with his duties as vice chancellor, Sladek maintains an active, National Institutes of Health-funded research laboratory that studies neural repair mechanisms.
He is on the board of the Alzheimer’s Association and has written 200-plus scientific publications relating to neural repair.
AWARE’s founder and president emeritus, Helen Ginsburg, also spoke, updating members on the status of the Alzheimer’s Memory Grove and Garden (AWARE stands for
Alzheimer’s Women’s Association for Resources and Education).
She said a groundbreaking ceremony is slated for Feb. 13 at the Stapleton neighborhood’s Central Park, and that the 167 trees to be planted there will honor someone affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
The trees are being sold for $1,000 each, with proceeds going to AWARE-funded research and to support the association’s statewide programs for patients and their families.
Before relinquishing the gavel to Terrie Fontenot, retiring president Kathy Klugman expressed her thanks to those who had supported her leadership by presenting a generous check to the Alzheimer’s Association in their names:
“What brought us together in the first place was a determination to find out what causes this terrible disease – and how it can be cured. Our treasured friendships came about because of that.
“So today I have made a donation (in your names) because I know that’s where your hearts are and because you so deserve to be honored for your work.”
Members of Fontenot’s board are vice presidents Lani Hood, Jane Courtright, Betty Phillips, Judy Bowman, Diane Fatheree, Diane Steen, Tracey Welch and Ann DeGroat; treasurer Diane Sweat; secretaries Susan Mostow and Robyn Roggensack; and parliamentarian Adrienne Fitzgibbons.
Guests included Cinnie Auer, who recently retired as director of development for Girl Scouts – Mile Hi Council and is now sharing her fundraising expertise as a volunteer consultant for AWARE; Barbara Emery Mendel; Susan Barnhill; Marlene Siegel; Grace Jordan; Noreen Stillman; Debbie Tepper; Jim Prugh; Randall Stubbs; Ellen Enoch; Evelyn Brown; Linda Dispense; Zelda Gutman; Sydney McKinney; association president Linda Mitchell; and annual meeting chairs Debbie Enoch Davis and Jerilyn Bensard.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.
