Luanne Bas

By Luanne Bas
President, HDSA-San Diego

With the help of so many people, we did it again: HDSA-San Diego raised more than $100,000 for the care of Huntington’s disease patients and research towards a cure at our ninth annual Celebration of Hope Gala.

“In the Huddle: a night of football anecdotes and ad-libs” took place on Saturday, October 17, 2009, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel in downtown San Diego. Nearly 500 guests attended this memorable program. The proceeds go to support HDSA programs, including the HDSA Center of Excellence for Family Services and Research at the University of California, San Diego.

Our chapter was proud to put on the Gala and to work with the many volunteers and organizations that helped make it possible.

Qualcomm, our title sponsor, and Palomar Pomerado Health, our presenting sponsor, led the way. Thanks to them and our many other generous supporters, we had the highest level of sponsorship in the event’s history. Please click here to visit the Our Partners section of this site to see our tribute to the organizations and individuals who became Gala sponsors.

Among the many people who assisted, I especially want to thank the event chairs, HDSA-San Diego board member Dinisa Valadao and Maria Gibson, and the Hope Gala committee for all of their hard work to make this magical night possible. Such a huge event takes months of planning, many phone calls, numerous negotiations, and just plain hard work! Kim Ayres of our board also dedicated herself completely to this event.

Special recognition goes to Steve Redfearn of Redfearn and Associates for handling the audiovisual and production. Steve has been a loyal volunteer for years and recently joined our board. We are lucky to have a committed individual like him supporting the cause to stop HD.

I would also like to acknowledge our other new board members, LaVonne Cashman and Jeff Bolitho of Aztec Sports Properties. Along with Steve, LaVonne and Jeff have already made many contributions to our chapter and are now taking on this added commitment. LaVonne purchased two tables at the Gala, and her support of HDSA-San Diego has been unflagging. Jeff brings a wonderful group of contacts to our organization.

A key individual in the process of board development has been Jack Berkman, the former chair of our nominations committee. As usual, Jack also gained widespread publicity for the Gala, and his assistant Patrick Pierce worked diligently with the media to secure coverage of the event.

I would also like to congratulate Natalie Carpenter, until now HDSA’s special events manager for Southern California. Natalie has just been promoted to HDSA’s regional development director for Southern California and Nevada. Natalie joined HDSA in 2006 and has helped coordinate all of our major fundraising events. Natalie will still work with us, and we will also be hiring a new local coordinator.

I am always moved by the work of our volunteers who campaign for advocacy issues. Our chapter began the push for H.R. 678, The Huntington’s Disease Parity Act of 2009, which now has 50 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill would bring government assistance faster to our HD patients. Please visit our Advocacy section by clicking here in order to learn more.

I want to close by recognizing the accomplishments of our HDSA-San Diego Support Group organizers and the staff of the Center of Excellence. These individuals work on a day-to-day basis with people who bear the burden of Huntington’s disease. The patients and families are the people we are fighting for. They greatly need – and appreciate – your help. I appreciate each and every person who contributed to the Hope Gala. Your support is priceless. On behalf of the San Diego Chapter, thank you!