It Takes Us All!
by Camron King, Chairman of the Board
The VHL Family Alliance celebrated 15 years of success in Orlando, Florida this past June. The group gathered for the Annual Meeting and celebration dinner was excited and enthusiastic about where the Alliance has been, where we are today and what the future holds before us. The strength and reputation of the VHL Family Alliance has been fostered by fantastic leadership and volunteers, along with an incredible staff to support our goals and efforts, but as we look to the future we need to be conscious that it will take us all playing an active role in promoting the Alliance, supporting its efforts and moving the search for a cure forward.
We all have different issues in our lives: family, work, school, other activities, but the tie that binds us all is VHL and our Family Alliance. You are receiving this newsletter because of your support and involvement with the Alliance and the efforts it undertakes on our behalf. We all need to continue to support the VHLFA and help it move forward!
As the Alliance continues to grow and progress and we get better and better research proposals to fund, we need to make some strategic investments in the search for a cure. The staff has made sure that they are prudent with the funds generated by the generosity of members and supporters of the VHLFA, but there is always a demand for more: more research needs funding, more education needs to be done, and more advances towards a cure!
This is where each and every one of us comes in! These are tough economic times and for non-profit organizations that rely upon the generosity of people’s discretionary support, these times are even tougher. That being said, with a minimal investment of time and request from each one of us, we could easily help the VHL Family Alliance thrive and move forward in a highly sustainable manner. Just think, if we each contributed or raised a small $100, the possibilities of what the Alliance could do would seem endless in comparison to where we are today!
Let’s break it down:
There are some 15,000 members of the VHL Family Alliance in the world, half of whom are in the U.S. If each person either contributed or asked friends family and colleagues to help raise a total of $100, we would have a whopping $1.5 million in the bank to fund research, education and promote the VHL Family Alliance! This is almost six times what VHLFA brings in annually! What a great leap forward!
Now, we don’t all have $100 to contribute, but if we could each ask 10 people to donate $10 or 5 people to donate $20, we could easily reach our goal and in doing so reach out to many more people and better get the word out about VHL – what a perfect scenario!
This is a simple and effective way to help support the VHL Family Alliance. Should you need further assistance, the fantastic staff is always at the ready to help! Let’s all work together and build upon 15 years of success and take the VHL Family Alliance to another level in the future!
See exciting projects from our members:
See great new learning opportunities:
Volunteer to add your talent to the team!
Write to chairman@vhl.org -- Thank you!
As printed in the VHL Family Forum 16:3, September 2008. For permission to reprint, please contact VHL Family Alliance, editor@vhl.org.
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