Rotary Club raises funds for Alzheimer’s research

The Annandale Rotary Club at the 2018 Taste of Annandale.

The Annandale Rotary Club is raising funds in support of medical research on Alzheimer’s disease.

The club, a Gold sponsor of the Taste of Annandale, will have more information about the fundraising campaign at the community festival, on Oct. 5.

Just about everyone has a relative or acquaintance affected by Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, says Rotary Club member James McConville, the regional chair of the fundraising campaign.

For McConville, it’s personal. His brother, age 67, started developing dementia about a year ago after he had a small stroke. “I’ve spent some time with him. It’s clear he’s very impaired,” McConville says.

He also see a lot of families struggling with dementia in his professional life. As an attorney, he helps clients set up guardianships and powers of attorney for people no longer able to handle their own affairs.

The Annandale Rotary Club’s fundraising effort is part of a larger Rotary program called Coins for Alzheimer’s Research Trust (the CART Fund). This is the first year the Northern Virginia Rotary District is participating.

Since the CART Fund started in South Carolina in 1996, it awarded $8.2 million to researchers working on preventing or slowing the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

Recent grants include $250,000 to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and $187,500 to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., McConville notes. An advisory group of medical doctors reviews grant proposals and decides where the funds should go.

Tax-exempt donations for the CART Fund can be made to the Annandale Rotary Club, P.O. Box 143, Annandale, VA, 22003.

For more information, contact James McConville, [email protected], or visit the Annandale Rotary Club table at the Taste of Annandale.