A New York-based foundation with family ties in Ponte Vedra Beach has donated $1 million to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society?s research campaign.
The Donald C. McGraw Foundation gift stemmed from the MS diagnosis received 18 months ago by 28-year-old Erin McGraw, daughter of Josh and Sacha McGraw, all of Ponte Vedra, said Sara Conrad, spokeswoman for the society?s North Florida Chapter.
Josh McGraw and his Massachusetts-based brother, Robin McGraw, who was already a society supporter, decided to use the family foundation?s resources to help the cause, specifically the NOW Campaign. NOW is the society?s initiative to raise $250 million to fund every viable option in MS research and treatment.
?When we read about the NOW Campaign, it seemed the society was focused and understood how every dollar could be used as efficiently as possible,? Josh McGraw said. ?They will target the research areas with the greatest opportunity for success.?
Erin McGraw ?is doing well thanks to the wide variety of treatments available to people living with MS,? Conrad said.
Her family has taken leadership roles in the society in her honor.
Robin McGraw had been involved in the society through the Bike MS fundraiser and as a trustee of the National MS Society?s Greater New England Chapter. His motivation stemmed from a ?dear friend? who had MS, as well as his career as a paramedic and his love of cycling, Conrad said. After Erin McGraw?s diagnosis, he also joined the MS NOW Cabinet and travels across the country speaking to prospective donors.
Other family members have participated in several events, raising about $12,000 for research and chapter programs.
?It?s up to all of us to do as much as we can to find an answer,? Sacha McGraw said.
Corrina Steiger, North Florida chapter president, said she hopes the McGraw gift encourages others to join the movement.
?We are so grateful for this donation and impressed with this family?s leadership and passion toward finding a cure,? she said. ?The donation will have a remarkable impact on future research initiatives and bring us a huge step closer to a world free of MS.?
The foundation is named after Josh and Robin McGraw?s father, Donald C. McGraw Jr., who died in 2006. He was a World War II Navy veteran and an executive with McGraw-Hill, founded by his grandfather, James McGraw.
An earlier foundation gift made possible a Community Hospice in-patient unit to serve south Jacksonville, the Beaches and northeast St. Johns County. The new 16-bed, 23,000-square-foot facility on the Mayo Clinic campus was named the Anne and Donald McGraw Center of Caring to memorialize Josh and Robin McGraw?s parents, according to 2007 Times-Union articles.
Beth Reese Cravey: (904) 359-4109
NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY
The North Florida Chapter offers year-round programs for the 18,000 North Florida residents affected by MS. Funds raised by annual events such as Walk MS, Bike MS and MuckRuckus MS contribute to national research, programs and services. For more information call (904) 332-6810 or (800) 344-4867, email msnorfla@nmss.org or go to nationalMSsociety.org/FLN.
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