- Curing Disease
- Aiding and feeding children
- Aiding families in times of crisis
We fully recognize that many organizations do an excellent job meeting a broad range of needs. Over time, we expect to expand the list of organizations we support, as our resources grow.
In 2000, a 4 year old cancer patient named Alexandra “Alex” Scott announced a seemingly simple idea -she was holding a lemonade stand to raise money to help “her doctors” find a cure for kids with cancer. The idea was put into action by Alex and her older brother, Patrick, when they set up the first “Alex’s Lemonade Stand for Childhood Cancer” on their front lawn in July of 2000.
The American Red Cross, is a humanitarian organization, led by volunteers, and guided by its Congressional Charter and the fundamental principles of the International Red Cross movement. The organization provides relief to victims of disaster and helps people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies.
The Salvation Army offers extensive social services programs which includes emergency shelter, a daily feeding program, emergency family services in utility assistance, operation of a missing person’s service, pre-employment training/job placement, a supportive housing program for families and substance abuse programs for men.
In addition, the organization provides shut-in visitation to area homes, hospitals and penal institutions, disaster services to victims and workers, as well as a range of programs to feed and educate children.
The Cancer Research Institute is the world’s only non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to the support and coordination of scientific and clinical efforts that will lead to the immunological treatment, control and prevention of cancer.
CRI supports scientists in the fields of immunology and tumor immunology at every stage of their careers, from graduate students to postdoctoral fellows up to heads of major university departments, hospitals and clinics. CRI funding ensures a continuum of scientific creativity all along the spectrum of experience, providing valuable support to today’s leading researchers, while cultivating the next generation of pioneering minds.
5) The American Heart Association
The American Heart Association is a national voluntary health agency whose mission is: “Building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke.” The mission of the organization is focused on reducing coronary heart disease and stroke 25% by 2010.
The mission of the American Kidney Fund (AKF) is to provide direct, treatment-related financial assistance to kidney patients who are in need, and to provide health education to people with, or at-risk for, kidney disease.
The American Kidney Fund was founded in 1971 to save the life of one person who needed help paying for dialysis. Thirty-seven years later, AKF has become the leading source of direct, treatment-related financial assistance to people in the United States who are living with chronic kidney disease. In 2007, AKF helped 68,000 patients, distributing over $100 million in treatment-related grants.
Action Against Hunger provides innovative solutions to solve the problem of world hunger. The organization’s activities encompass the areas of Nutrition, Water and Sanitation, Food Security, Health and Advocacy.
Action Against Hunger’s innovative food security programs offer a broad range of solutions for generating income, boosting food production, and strengthening livelihoods.
8. Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
JDRF is the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 (juvenile) diabetes research worldwide. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Type 1 diabetes is a disease which strikes children suddenly and requires multiple injections of insulin daily or a continuous infusion of insulin through a pump. Insulin, however, is not a cure for diabetes, nor does it prevent its eventual and devastating complications which may include kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke, and amputation.
Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has awarded more than $1.16 billion to diabetes research, including more than $137 million in FY2007. In FY2007, the Foundation funded 700 centers, grants and fellowships in 20 countries.
9. Muscular Dystrophy Association
The muscular dystrophies (MD) are a group of more than 30 genetic diseases characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the skeletal muscles that control movement. Some forms of MD are seen in infancy or childhood, while others may not appear until middle age or later. The disorders differ in terms of the distribution and extent of muscle weakness (some forms of MD also affect cardiac muscle), age of onset, rate of progression, and pattern of inheritance.
The MDA is working to help cure this disease.
10. Mayo Clinic
Top doctors
Mayo Clinic chooses doctors carefully based on their educational background, their medical skills, and their ability to work together. Because of the large volume of patients who come to Mayo for care, our doctors quickly gain extensive experience in treating every kind of illness. Many become international experts. The Mayo system supports doctors by making it easy for them to work together and by providing the best personnel, facilities and technology to help them deliver the best care to every patient every day.
New treatments
A part of Mayo’s mission is to continually look for new and better ways of doing things. Mayo patients are frequently among the first to benefit from new ideas pioneered by Mayo doctors and researchers. The emphasis on learning is what makes Mayo one of the leading centers for educating other doctors.
Reputation
Mayo has earned a reputation for solving hard-to-solve medical problems based on more than 100 years of results. This is affirmed by the fact that more than 70 percent of Mayo’s patients have been seen at Mayo before.
Many viewpoints
Mayo’s system is built on working together: encouraging doctors to freely consult with each other about patients (which is why Mayo doctors are called “consultants”). Patients do not get just one opinion at Mayo; they get multiple opinions. The principle at Mayo is two heads are better than one and five are even better.
One-stop care
Virtually all medical services a patient might need — doctor visits, testing, surgery, hospital care — are available “under one roof” at Mayo Clinic. The scheduling of these services is done in a coordinated and efficient way, so that what might take months to accomplish in a community setting can be done in a matter of days at Mayo.