By Steve Baker
On Wednesday, October 27, Michele Garashi-Ellick spoke to the Denver/Lake Norman Rotary. Michele is a member of the Sylva Rotary Club in Sylva, NC. She also holds the position of District 7670 CART Chairperson and a member of the Zone 33-34 CART Committee. Michele has been a Rotarian for six years.
In October 1995, CART (Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust) was started by the Sumter, SC Rotary which initiated the effort to “prove that Rotarians voluntarily emptying their pockets of change for a worthy cause could produce significant levels of funds to support Alzheimer’s disease research”. In May 1996, the CART Fund was introduced at the District 7770 Conference and it was agreed to adopt CART as a project. The CART Fund is now supported by twenty Rotary Districts located in South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, and Florida.
Michele used a long running TV game show, Jeopardy to provide information on the CART Foundation. Prior to her talk, Michele distributed thirteen Kit-Kat candy bars with questions attached. As she spoke about CART, she would ask who had each question and that person would provide the answer. With this technique, she guided the club through the who, what, why, when, and where of CART Fund basics. Michele explained that one the things that makes the CART Foundation unique is that 100% of all contributions go to fund Alzheimer's research The Fund is governed by a Board of Trustees composed of representatives from the Rotary Districts that support the program. This committee determines the grants that are allocated each year.
In January 1999, the American Federation for Aging Research agreed to provide their expertise in the grant process. Using the funds raised up to that point, CART awarded its first grant to Emory University’s Dr. Allan Levey, the leader of Emory’s Alzheimer’s Disease research team. Grants continue to be provided to researchers for Alzheimer’s to this day. The number of grants depends upon the amount of money received from CART donations.
Now club members know what the blue buckets on each table at Rotary Club meetings are for. Please drop any pocket change you have into a bucket for CART. One day you or someone you know may the one who receives the benefits of research done for Alzheimer’s.
To learn more about the CART Foundation, go to www.cartfund.org.