$2,044,377 Raised To Fight Blindess

The Foundation Fighting Blindness raised $861,459 from donors this summer. EyeHope participated in this program and all donations were generously match 2X by Gordon and Lulie Gund.

The letter below was sent to donors today by Gordon. A portion of every EyeHope Magnifier purchase is donated to charities fighting blindness and I wanted to thank you for your support. 

Sincerly,

James

Dear James, I’m very excited to report back to you today the results of my summer fundraising match campaign.  Because you gave so generously, we raised $681,459 from more than 4,932 donors who share your commitment to the Foundation Fighting Blindness.  My wife, Lulie, and I couldn’t be happier to match every dollar with two additional dollars.  Which means that altogether we just raised $2,044,377 for blindness research! I cannot thank you enough. This support has helped us fund 9 new research grants just this summer like Dr. Jeff Boatright of Emory University, who is evaluating two drugs that have the potential to preserve photoreceptors and Drs. Alfred Lewin and William Hauswirth of the University of Florida who are developing a potential gene therapy to override or “knock out” the bad gene and deliver a healthy gene. Their ongoing work, along with many others, has brought promising research to the point where clinical trials are close at hand. Thanks to you, the Foundation Fighting Blindness supports hundreds of investigators at dozens of research centers, hospitals and universities all over the world every single year. To read more about these two new studies and more research grants the Foundation awarded this summer visit www.FightBlindness.org/Grants. It’s because of friends like you that research is happening at an ever-faster pace. I’m more optimistic than I’ve ever been about our chances for success.  And I’m extremely grateful for all you’ve done to help us get this far. Sincerely, Gordon and Lulie Gund