Blog Archive 11/2009

$5M Chase Community Giving: Use Your Votes To Support SMA Organizations

November 30, 2009 by Bill Strong

Are you a Facebook user? If so, Chase is giving away $5 million to over 100 charities and YOU can determine which charities receive grants with your votes through Facebook. We're asking you to consider helping SMA focused organizations with your votes - you have 20 votes to spread around:

Gwendolyn...

Dot Joy Salon Raffle

November 30, 2009 by Victoria

We are very excited to announce Dot Joy Salon in Sherman Oaks, California is hosting a raffle with amazing high end prizes and all proceeds go to the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. Tickets are $20 each and you can enter as many times as you'd like. You do not need to attend the event to win (although...

Golf For A Cure Tournament a HUGE Success!!

November 29, 2009 by Bill Strong

On November 20, 2009, Gwendolyn's amazing Gramma (Bill's mom) and our dear friends, Jeff and Kris Hanson, hosted the First Annual Golf For A Cure tournament at Sterling Hills Golf Club in Camarillo, California to benefit the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. The tournament was a ton of fun on an...

Happy Thanksgiving

November 26, 2009 by Victoria

This Thanksgiving I feel especially thankful. Not in the "Let's pause for a moment to be thankful" way. I have been feeling so aware for weeks of all that we have in our life, all that is good and all that we have to be thankful for.

I am thankful for the friends and family in our life who support...

Mike Paskin, you ARE an Ironman!

November 24, 2009 by Bill Strong

This weekend, we drove out to Tempe, Arizona to cheer on our friend, Mike Paskin, in the Ironman Arizona. We have no previous experience with the Ironman or triathlons or any competition of this sort, so this was all brand new to us. After this weekend, I can tell you one thing for sure -- this is...

PetitionToCureSMA.com Efforts Working

November 22, 2009 by Victoria

It is working! With collective efforts, PetitionToCureSMA.com is growing -- and quickly. In less than a week it has blown past 77,000 supporters! This is awesome! And, as this petition grows it is not only sending a strong message to Congress, it is raising awareness of SMA. And knowledge brings...

Joe Barnick, thanks for the inspiration!

November 20, 2009 by Bill Strong

This is such a small, small, tiny world in so many ways. Victoria and I have been researching and thinking through ways to use technology to help Gwendolyn communicate. There is a really cool application that we've been looking at, Proloquo2Go, that brings augmentative and alternative communication...

Date Night

November 18, 2009 by Victoria

Bill and I had a first -- and this is a big one -- we got a babysitter and went on a date without Gwendolyn!

This is only the second time in Gwendolyn's entire life that we have left her with someone. The first time was when she was just four-months-old and stayed with Gramma while Bill and I went...

Dr. Keirstead's Research Named "Project That Will Change

November 18, 2009 by Victoria

Dr. Hans Keirstead's research was just featured in Esquire magazine as one of 2009's "Six Radical Projects That Will Change Science Forever". This is the groundbreaking research that we wholeheartedly support. Dr. Keirstead and his team are our hope to cure SMA and this is why we started Unite For...

I Support SMA Research Because Babies Matter!

November 16, 2009 by Victoria

Okay guys, we need help! And NOW! The SMA Treatment Acceleration Act has a window of opportunity in the House of Representatives now that the ginormous health reform bill is no longer at the forefront. But, it is a small window and so we need to up the ante, spread the word, get our mojo rolling...