It was great to see Rotarian Don Seitz (Rotary Club of Cabarrus County) visiting Canada this week and passing his CART cup! He collected $147 CAN during this meeting and plans to visit numerous other clubs while on his trip!

Have you introduced #TheCARTFund to the Rotary clubs you visit?

The Executive Committee of The CART Fund is proud to announce the selection of Past District Governor John "Robbie" Powell as the new Secretary of the board.

John D. “Robbie” Powell is a native of Winchester, Virginia, and a graduate of James Madison University. An accountant by trade, he spent the first two-thirds of his career as CFO and HR director for Cives Steel Company in Winchester. After retiring from that position, he pursued his passion for golf, but he soon discovered that he needed a different challenge. Thus began his second career in higher education, where he spent another 15 years before retiring for good. However, John still maintains a tax practice (as a 50+ year hobby), practicing in VA. & WV.

John has always had a passion for serving others. While in Winchester, he served on a number of boards, including the board of directors for the local United Way, was a member of the Winchester Rotary Club, served on the Frederick County Parks and Rec Commission, and was President of the Judges Athletic Association. 

After relocating to South Charleston, John became a member of the Rotary Club of South Charleston where he served as Club President and started the club’s annual golf fundraiser, serving as Golf Chair for several years. In 2013, he was tapped to enter the District Governor chain in District 7550, serving as District Governor in the 2016-2017 Rotary Year. John is a sustaining member, an RLI graduate, a Paul Harris Fellow, a Paul Harris Society member, a Benefactor, Major Donor, Bequest Society member, and a member of the Whiskey Dram Fellowship.

In his spare time, John is an avid golfer and a member of the Golfing PDGs, a group of golfing Past District Governors who play in support of many Club golf outings in District 7545, as well as in support of other charitable causes. He is a member and Elder at First Presbyterian Church of South Charleston, where he has served in various positions, including Treasurer. 

John is married to his soulmate, Jan. He has a grown daughter, Catherine Moats, and a grandson, Weston Moats. John and Jan enjoy traveling, collecting fine wine, attending professional golf tournaments, professional baseball games and, of course, spending time with John’s grandson.

Thank you to Rotary Club of Hendersonville (NC-District 7670) for their successful BINGO fundraiser for CART! The club hosts Bingo Night each month at a local brewery, and the $1200 raised in July was donated to help #EndALZ!
 

Have you seen these new t-shirts promoting The CART Fund? They are available for purchase on our website by clicking on the MERCHANDISE tab.

Thanks to our partnership with Civic Swag, a portion of the sale of all CART items will be donated back to TRAC to support administrative expenses for us!

Civic Swag is also a licensed Rotary vendor if you need items for your Rotary Club or District!.

Dr. Ana Gricuic, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, was the recipient of a $300,000 grant in memory of CART founder Roger Ackerman.


Dr. Griciuc has been awarded a $300,000 grant to explore a new way to tackle Alzheimer's disease by focusing on a gene called CD33. This gene, found on innate immune cells in the brain, seems to interfere with the brain's cleanup process of a harmful protein, leading to Alzheimer's.

Her team's early experiments show promise that targeting this gene could help clear out this harmful protein and reduce brain inflammation in mice. They plan to further test this approach with hopes it could lead to new treatments.

You can watch Dr. Griciuc's presentation here.
 

Thank you to Four Seasons Rotary Club (NC-District 7670) for this creative way to raise funds for CART at their recent district conference!  A member enjoys expressing his creativity by turning wood, and then he donates the items to help support CART!

THANK YOU to the Rotary Club of Lake Wylie (SC) who donated more than $25,000 to The CART Fund as a result of their 2nd Annual Paddle for the Cure fundraiser!  In addition to participants in the event, they also had a successful silent auction and 50/50 raffle. We are so grateful for these amazing "People of Action" who are helping us #EndALZ!

After a record fundraising year and an increased number of grant applications, the Executive Committee of The CART Fund, under the direction and advice of the Scientific Review Panel, has announced the organization awarded a record $1.4 million in Alzheimer's research grants in 2024.

The top award, the Roger Ackerman Memorial Grant for $300,000, was presented to Ana Griciuc, Ph.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Her project is titled “Utilizing CD33-targeting antisense oligonucleotides to reduce Alzheimer’s Disease Pathology.”

The next award, the Dr. John Trojanowski Memorial Grant for $300,000, was presented to Amy Nelson, Ph.D., from Gulf Coast Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Her research will focus on “Determining the role of caldesmon in MCI/AD pericyte vascular function."

 

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Thank you to Rotary Club of Asheville Biltmore (NC-District 7670) for a successful 100-Mile Walk to Fight Dementia.

4 participants -- club members, family and friends, business partners and members of neighboring Rotary clubs - walked more than 133 miles around the South Slope and Downtown Asheville. They exceeded their fundraising goal and will contribute 100% of the money raised toward fighting dementia: 50% to MemoryCare in Asheville and the other 50% to CART! 

Would you be interested in joining an online-only Rotary club dedicated to supporting Coins For Alzheimer's Research Trust (CART) and Alzheimer's Association to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease?

They are looking for more "People of Action" to help them create this cause-based club!

The group meets the 3rd Tuesday of every month at 5pm (EST) via zoom. You can join them online to learn more at www.alzclub.com???????

Great job by the Rotary Club of City Center Greenville (SC-D7570) on their CARS for CART fundraiser that netted $560 to help fund Alzheimer's research! They had 22 entries and lots of guests who learned more about Rotary and CART!

Congratulations to the Rotary Club of Camden County, GA-District 6920 who recently raised $2600 for The CART Fund with their 0.0k race!  Great job, folks!

We are excited to partner with Civic Swag in Georgia to provide additional CART branded items for our volunteers. Additionally, Civic Swag, a business owned by a Rotarian in Milledgeville, GA, has agreed to be an in-kind donor of social media tools and marketing services to assist us in sharing our message.

You can visit their website and learn more here!

CART was honored to be the recent recipient of a one million dollar donation from a Rotarian in North Carolina. The gift, made from a donor-advised fund, will be used to support research grants to be awarded in May of 2024. The donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, indicated his interest in helping find a cure for Alzheimer's and was willing to commit valuable resources to help the cause.

If you are interested in making a major gift to fund research for the prevention, treatment or cure for Alzheimer's Disease, or would like to discuss leaving a gift to CART in your estate, please contact Executive Director Tiffany Ervin.

THANK YOU to everyone who continues to support The CART Fund as a recurring donor and as a member of the newly-created "Roger Ackerman Circle." 

We are so excited to offer this limited-edition lapel pin for donors who commit to a recurring donation of a minimum of $5/month via our online donor portal!  If you have already enrolled but haven't yet received your pin, please let us know so we can make arrangements to present it soon!

If you haven't signed up yet, you still can! Just go to mycartfund.org to make a contribution & select “recurring gift” (monthly, quarterly or annually) 

 

The Rotary Club of Lake Wylie (SC) sponsored the 2nd Annual "Paddle for the Cure" to benefit CART last month at YMCA Camp Thunderbird, Lake Wylie, SC.  They raised more than $25,000 which was presented to our Executive Director at a recent club meeting. CART President Rod Funderburk was also on hand for the special presentation!

There were lots of activities, including 5K kayak and paddle boat races, a 2K race for the 12-17 year olds, a silent auction, live music, a 50/50 raffle, children activities, and of course, great food.