Hope, Perseverance, and Engagement: Letter from the Director
August 26,2020
It’s been seven months now since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. We hope you are all doing well and taking care of yourselves during these challenging times. While we can’t hug each other in person this year we share in virtual hugs and well wishes.
Thus far in 2020, Team PH has risen to the challenge of this pandemic and continues our mission to empower the PH community, today and tomorrow. We want to take a moment to recap and thank all who made it possible.
We opened up the Unmet Needs Patient Impact Fund to patients facing financial crisis due to the pandemic. Between March 25 through August we awarded more than 60 grants.
We shared blog posts on our website about COVID-19 preparedness, and brought doctors, researchers, and patients together for two live Twitter Chats, sharing questions, answers, and hope during this time.
We launched a call to action in our community with our Sew for Hope cloth mask campaign with guidance for how people could sew masks for themselves, their families, and their local medical communities.
As an organization that raises funds through very public athletic events, we also pivoted by launching a virtual race for Team PH on World PH Day to bring together our athletes, making our cornerstone PHenomenal Hope 5K event virtual this year, and encouraging athletes to enter the realm of virtual racing.
We also worked to support our athletes by launching international cross training workouts via Zoom, bringing together our global teams.
Finally, we answered the community’s call for more information about pulmonary hypertension research and news about the latest trials by hosting our first ever Virtual Research Town Hall via Zoom, bringing together PH experts to discuss the latest clinical and translational research findings with a question and answer session about research, culminating in the announcement of our 2020 research award.
Up next, we plan to debut the ability to donate appreciated stock through a new arrangement with Edward Jones, a nationally recognized company. We will also offer the opportunity for other tax advantaged donating opportunities in addition to stock transfers, such as beneficiary designations on retirement and savings accounts.
We are busy planning for 2021 to continue serving the PH community. As part of that planning, if you have a third party event that you would like to benefit Team PH, please reach out to me at Linda@teamphenomenalhope.org.
During this time of uncertainty we continue to thrive because of your generous donations. Make your donation today online at www.teamph.org/donate or by check to Team PHenomenal Hope, P.O. Box 1115, Beloit, WI 53512.
Linda Appleby
Executive Director
Team PHenomenal Hope
God bless you all that are willing to bring your time to help others in need. Count with me when I can help.