Jewelers for Children Pledges $3 Million to Charities
August 14, 08Jewelers for Children is to donate $3.07 million to the organization’s charity partners in the coming year. One million dollars will go to the National CASA Association to continue funding the Champions for Abused Children program.
The National CASA Association, together with its state and local members, supports and promotes court-appointed volunteer advocacy for abused and neglected children.
JFC has donated some $5.3 million to the organization since 2002 that helped provide a CASA volunteer for 3,667 children in the foster care system in 336 communities across the U.S. The support has also been used to develop public service announcements for CASA that have resulted in more than 15,000 new volunteers.
One million dollars has been pledged to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital towards a five million dollar, multi-year commitment to fund research into the immune system. During treatment for cancer, many children have compromised immune systems that can lead to further complications. The focus of this research is to find ways that a child’s immune system can be maintained during treatment to help in their fight against the deadly disease.
JFC endowed the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic at St. Jude in 1999, and since then almost 900 children have received bone marrow transplants. Additionally, JFC has funded the Stem Cell Transplantation Laboratory and a chair in the Genetics and Gene Therapy departments.
Since 1999, JFC has provided $6.5 million in support to St. Jude.
Additionally, $500,000 is being pledged to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. The Make-A-Wish Foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.
Since 1999, JFC and the jewelry industry have helped more then 1,000 children in the U.S. by funding their wishes. To date, $6.5 million in support was provided to the Foundation.
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation will receive $ 335,000 to fund an International Leadership Award on the continent of Africa. JFC has provided it with more than $6.7 million.
Autism Speaks, the largest autism related non-profit healthcare agency in the U.S. for research, awareness, advocacy and family services will receive $100,000.
The Santa-America Fund will receive $35,000. Founded in 2003, the Fund sends Santas on an unhurried visit to families facing physical and emotional crisis.
JFC also announced that $50,000 will be given to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
Since 1999, the JFC donated $30.54 million to various causes.