Archive for October 7th, 2019

Global Down Syndrome Foundation and Local Down Syndrome Affiliates Help Ensure A Big Opening Weekend Triggering 1,000 Screen Expansion

Global Celeb Lineup Amanda Booth, Charlotte Fonfara-LaRose, Mikaela Hoover, Megan Bomgaars

Press Contacts:
Rejena Carmichael | rcarmichael@globaldownsyndrome.org | C: (240) 603-5494
Anca Call | acall@globaldownsyndrome.org | C: (720) 320-3832

Denver, CO (September 18, 2019) – Today, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation (“Global”) announced supermodel and actress Amanda Booth and TV star and entrepreneur Megan Bomgaars will receive Global’s Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Award (“Q Award”), as well as its initial celebrity lineup for the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show. The marquee event is the largest Down syndrome fundraiser in the world, raising over $18 million for life-saving and life-changing research and medical care to date. An estimated fourteen hundred attendees including models with Down syndrome, Hollywood and sports celebrities, philanthropists, and government officials will head to the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, 1550 Court Place in Denver on Saturday, November 2.

Booth has worked on fashion editorials and advertising campaigns for Harper’s Bazaar US and Australia, Glamour Magazine UK, Elle, Anthropologie and more. Booth uses her fashion platform in top publications and on social media to support Global’s important work and to share her journey of parenting a beautiful son who happens to have Down syndrome. Recently, Booth and her son appeared on the cover of Vogue Living Netherlands, making Micah the first person with Down syndrome to be featured on a Vogue magazine cover.

Bomgaars, a woman with Down syndrome herself, regularly represents Global at conferences and events, including this year’s Trisomy 21 Research Society International Conference in Barcelona, Spain and the National Down Syndrome Congress Annual Convention in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An inspiration to everyone to follow their dreams, the 26-year-old has starred in the four-time Emmy Award-winning television series Born this Way, was selected by the White House to attend former first lady Michelle Obama’s Beating the Odds summit, and has developed a clothing line and a makeup line with Sanrio’s “Hello Kitty” and ArtPop Cosmetics respectively.

Other confirmed celebrities for the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show include: Music Legend and inspiration behind the Q Award, Quincy Jones, Global board member and award-winning actor John C. McGinley, award-winning actor Eric Dane, supermodel and Instagram influencer Mikaela Hoover and award-winning actor from the breakout indie film The Peanut Butter Falcon, Zack Gottsagen. A full roster of celebrities will be announced in the coming weeks.

During the fashion show, 23 brilliant and beautiful models with Down syndrome will rock the runway. The event will also honor the 2019 Global Ambassador Charlotte Fonfara-LaRose, while celebrating the return of past Ambassadors and Q-Award winners: DeOndra Dixon, Zack Gottsagen, and Clarissa Capuano.

“We are proud of our accomplishments and we are deeply grateful for the support we receive from our amazing families, congressional champions, the National Institutes of Health, and professionals who empower us to save and transform the lives of people with Down syndrome every day,” said Michelle Sie Whitten, President, CEO and Co-Founder of the Global Down Syndrome Foundation. “The proceeds from this spectacular event help fund over 200 scientists working on elongating life, and a dream team of medical professionals providing excellent medical care to over 1,700 patients from 28 states and 10 countries.”

Global’s advocacy and lobbying efforts with Congress and outreach to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have resulted in an unprecedented increase of the Down syndrome research budget, from $27 million in 2016 to an estimated $77 million in 2019.

About Global Down Syndrome Foundation

Established in 2009, Global Down Syndrome Foundation (Global) is a non-profit 501(c)(3) dedicated to significantly improving the lives of people with Down syndrome through research, medical care, education and advocacy. Global is part of a network of affiliates who work together to deliver on our mission, supporting hundreds of scientists and medical care professionals. Our affiliates include the Sie Center for Down Syndrome, the Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, Rocky Mountain Alzheimer’s Disease Center and a new pilot Adult Clinic. For more information, visit globaldownsyndrome.org and follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter @GDSFoundation, Instagram @globaldownsyndrome).