Over the past several months, the Fight SMA team and SMArt Board have been hard at work planning a brand-new fall celebration. This revamped and more casual party will take the place of SMAsquerade, and it promises to be a highlight of the 2008 campaign. We are so excited to unveil “To Fight Life Through” to all of our longtime supporters and new friends to our cause.

Our dynamic SMArt Board is thrilled to announce that the 2008 fall celebration will be held November 15, 2008 at the stylish and beautiful BANK (1005 E. Main Street in Richmond, Va.) from 6:00-9:00pm. Tickets are $50 (tax-deductible) and valet parking is available. The party will be a dazzling evening of cocktails (including signature SMArtinis!), hors doeuvres, a jazz trio, and - most importantly - a celebration of YOU! During the party, enter the Tiffany & Co. Raffle for a chance to win one of five signature Tiffany & Co. pieces! After the party, continue to celebrate the night away at Bank, or make your way down to Shockoe’s many fabulous restaurants and bars!

We’re looking forward to celebrating with you on November 15th!

Click here to purchase tickets!

Fight SMA released some big news this week. The recent SMAsquerade auction fundraiser in Richmond netted a total of more than $150,000 for spinal muscular atrophy research! Obviously, we’re very proud and would like to thank not only the donors, but also the sponsors of the event. The auction’s presenting sponsor was SunTrust, and the live auction sponsor was Dominion.

The items auctioned this year all fit the theme “Make Tracks.” Event organizers encouraged those in attendance at the event to make their mark by helping to cure SMA, and the attendees responded. The winning bids on several items reached near record levels. The highest bids came on these three items:

• Whale Tracking (Winning Bid: $12,000) - An eight-day whale-watching adventure in the Gulf of California, accompanied by National Geographic Senior Editor Don Belt and National Geographic Photographer Annie Belt.

• Two Days at the Track (Winning Bid: $10,000) - Corporate box seats plus accommodations for the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby, as well as Kentucky Oaks, which is run the day before.

• Tracking Flight (Winning Bid: $6,000) - A three-day hunt for four in St. Charles, Arkansas with Duck Hunt Guides, Inc., including lodging, hunts, meals and licenses.

To help Fight SMA reach its goal of finding a treatment or cure for spinal muscular atrophy, please visit http://www.fightsma.org and click on “donate.”

Read the entire news release about the announcement on PRWeb.

The Richmond Chapter of FightSMA was recently highlighted for its 2007 gala SMAsquerade: Make Tracks. The Style Weekly article, Belles of the Ball, discusses the time, effort, and skills that go into special event planning and profiled “the women behind some of Richmond’s big galas for bigger causes,” including FightSMA president Martha Slay. FightSMA’s SMAsquerade raises funding for research into a treatment and cure for Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

There are careers and there are callings. Some women combine the two, and others juggle them, along with families and a host of interests. Whatever the case, to say such women multitask is an understatement. Ask anyone who’s served on a fundraising committee for a nonprofit or lived with someone who has.

Planning for a gala, which often begins as soon as the last event ends, involves countless meetings about everything from budgets to bands, sponsors to spritzers. And there’s the matter of theme. It might be built-in or maybe it’s born each year anew. Deciding how it’s conveyed can be a breakthrough moment.

Big-ticket events that take place annually and raise tens, even hundreds, of thousands of dollars for local charities and institutions easily take on a life of their own. And while the heart of the event is the cause itself, its backbone is the organizer, whether it’s a volunteer or a CEO.

To read the full article, click here.

Fight SMA’s yearly fundraiser, SMAsquerade, is coming up on October 13, and time is running out to submit your absentee bid for some of the INCREDIBLE items we have available this year.  Absentee bids must be submitted via email or fax by 5:00 p.m. on October 12.  All proceeds from the auction will go toward finding a cure for spinal muscular atrophy, the leading inherited killer of children under two.

Here’s a look at some of the items up for bids at SMAsquerade: Make Tracks!

• Corporate box seats to the 2008 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks!
• An eight-day whale tracking adventure in the Gulf of California, accompanied by a National Geographic Senior Editor and Photographer!
• An amazing package trip to Nashville during Christmas 2007, including a three night stay for four at the Nashville Opryland Resort!
• A 10-day stay in a privately-owned hacienda in Clearwater, Florida!
• MUCH, MUCH more!

More details, plus a video of the beach house in Florida, are available at the SMAsquerade 2007 page on the Fight SMA website.  Absentee bidding details are available here.

SMAsquerade 2007 is presented by SunTrust! 

Please join in the fun!

Fight SMA’s upcoming SMAsquerade: Make Tracks! event was featured this week in an interview on the national radio show At the Races with Steve Byk. The program airs daily on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 126, and is all about the world of horse racing. Our Steve Mullen was interviewed on Tuesday, September 25th about one of the many exciting items available during the upcoming SMAsquerade live auction — six corporate box seats at next year’s Kentucky Derby!

The 5th annual SMAsquerade event takes place on October 13, 2007, and is Fight SMA’s signature fundraiser. It will feature live and silent auctions of amazing items. To learn more, visit the event page on the Fight SMA website.

To listen to the At The Races interview, visit the archives page on the show’s website. The interview took place at the end of hour one.

The video posted below is outstanding, and we recommend everyone take the time to watch it. It was produced by Spinal Muscular Atrophy Mom Kerry Schnitzlein for Atlanta’s SMAsquerade SMArdi Gras, held on February 17. The video shows the great personalities of the kids for whom Fight SMA was created. It’s a very moving piece and we thank Kerry for making it available for everyone.

Tags: atlanta, children, disabilities, disability, families, health, kids, medical, sma, smasquerade, smatlanta, spinal muscular atrophy, video