Global Down Syndrome Foundation 2012 Be Beautiful Be Yourself Raises $1.5 Million, Honors Jamie Foxx and Luke Zimmerman
DENVER (Oct. 16, 2012) – Over $1.5 million was raised at the Global Down Syndrome Foundation’s 2012 Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show on Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Sheraton Downtown Denver Hotel to benefit the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome. The gala was sold out, with 1,200 people in attendance, including football legends Pat and Annabel Bowlen, and John and Paige Elway.
This year, the annual event honored Academy Award-winning actor Jamie Foxx and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” TV star Luke Zimmerman with the 2012 Quincy Jones Exceptional Advocacy Awards. Quincy Jones, the organization’s International Spokesman, presented the award to Foxx, while Foxx’s sister, DeOndra Dixon, who is the foundation’s 2011 Ambassador, presented the award to Zimmerman.
The Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show featured the foundation’s 2012 Ambassador, 6-year-old Samantha Marcia Stevens of Massachusetts, as well as 29 other guest models who happen to have Down syndrome. They strutted the runway with celebrity escorts, including actress Virginia Williams, Denver Nuggets star players Andre Iguodala and Danilo Gallinari, and Colorado Rapids forward Conor Casey. Kim Christiansen of 9News was the evening’s emcee.
British singer-songwriter Natasha Bedingfield closed out the evening with a concert that featured dancing help from the models during her chart-topping hit “Unwritten.”
The event’s live auction raised $210,000, with such exclusive offerings as Hyde Park Jewelers’ Kentucky Derby VIP package, an Indianapolis 500 experience with Buzz Calkins, and a dinner with Denver Broncos icons Pat and Annabel Bowlen, and John and Paige Elway.
The money raised at the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show provides crucial funding for research, medical care, education and advocacy benefiting people with Down syndrome. Because Down syndrome is the least-funded genetic condition by the National Institutes of Health, the research and care provided by the Linda Crnic Institute at the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, and the Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndromeat Children’s Hospital Colorado rely heavily on private funding.
The Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show is the single largest annual fundraiser benefiting people with Down syndrome.
About the Global Down Syndrome Foundation
The Global Down Syndrome Foundation is a public non-profit 501(c)(3) dedicated to significantly improving the lives of people with Down syndrome through research, medical care, education and advocacy. Formally established in 2009, the Foundation’s primary focus is to support the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome, the first academic home in the US committed to research and medical care for people with the condition. Fundraising and government advocacy that corrects the alarming disparity of national funding for people with Down syndrome is a major short-term goal. The Foundation organizes the Be Beautiful Be Yourself Fashion Show – the single largest annual fundraiser benefiting people with Down syndrome. Programmatically the Foundation organizes and funds many programs and conferences including the Dare to Play Football and Cheer Camps, Global Down Syndrome Educational Series, and Global Down Syndrome Multi-Language Resource Project. The Foundation is an inclusive organization without political or religious affiliation or intention.
About the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome
The Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome is the first medical and research institute with the mission to provide the best clinical care to people with Down syndrome, and to eradicate the medical and cognitive ill effects associated with the condition. Established in 2008, the Crnic Institute is a partnership between the University of Colorado School of Medicine, the University of Colorado Boulder, and Children’s Hospital Colorado. Headquartered on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, the Crnic Institute includes the Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndrome at Children’s Hospital Colorado. It partners both locally and globally to provide life-changing research and medical care for individuals with Down syndrome. The Crnic Institute is made possible by the generous support of the Anna and John J. Sie Foundation, and relies on the Global Down Syndrome Foundation for fundraising, education, awareness and government advocacy. It is a research and medical-based organization without political or religious affiliation or intention.
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