Dear friends and family – We send out to you our sincere wishes for a joyous holiday season and a happy, healthy and peaceful new year. We appreciate your support and kindness, especially as we plod our way through the holidays for the first time without Brandon being physically present. Below are some developments we thought you would want to know.
The IRS approved the Foundation as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization, which allows contributors to deduct their donations.
The Foundation sold Brandon Egert Foundation frisbees – more than the money raised, we thought Brandon would love looking down from heaven and seeing his discs floating around at various ultimate frisbee fields -- many thanks to Jack Venezia and Ryan Beline!
We made our latest round of contributions, as described below:
1. American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – The New Jersey Chapter (we had previously donated to the national organization) is fueled by the mission to save lives by providing education and support to the Garden State.
The grassroots work it does focuses on eliminating the loss of life from suicide by: delivering innovative prevention programs, educating the public about risk factors and warning signs, raising funds for suicide research and programs, and reaching out to those individuals who have lost someone to suicide.
2. The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation -- Alleviate the suffering caused by mental illness by awarding grants that will lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research. 100% of all donor contributions for research are invested in grants to scientists, leading to discoveries in understanding causes and improving treatments of mental health disorders in children and adults. Since 1987 the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation has awarded more than $430 million in over 6,200 grants to more than 5,100 scientists around the world. This foundation is the nation's top non-governmental funder of mental health research grants.
3. The JED Foundation -- Protects the emotional health and well-being of the nation’s teen and young adults. JED furnishes mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention programs to more than 2,000 colleges and universities, and their “Campus Program” provides comprehensive emotional support for more than 2.5 million students. Their recently launched “Set To Go” initiative provides mental health, substance abuse, and suicide prevention programs for high school students. They are committed to equipping young people with the skills and knowledge they need to help themselves and their peers.
4. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline -- A national network of local crisis centers that provides free and confidential emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States. They are committed to improving crisis services and advancing suicide prevention by empowering individuals, advancing professional best practices, and building awareness.
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