Edmond Life & Leisure and The Oklahoman publish “Cure FA Soirée Seeks Sponsors” press release

Cure FA Soirée For Immediate Release
1109 Kingston Boulevard
Edmond, OK 73034
www.curefasoiree.org
info@curefasoiree.org 

Third Annual Cure FA Soirée Seeks Sponsors
Promote Your Company - Impact Our Community - See Unforgettable Performances 

Edmond, OK: The third annual Cure FA Soirée , a musical evening for all ages benefitting the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA), will be Saturday, 16 May 2020, at the Edmond Conference Center! Attendees will enjoy performances by accomplished local artists, stories and info about Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), dinner, drinks, and dessert, a silent auction and a wine pull, as well as opportunities to meet friends living with FA. 

Friedreich’s ataxia is a life-shortening, degenerative, genetic, mitochondrial disease, mostly affecting nerves and muscles. 15,000 people in the world have FA, usually diagnosed between 5 and 18 years of age. Balance and coordination problems often come first, followed by issues with fine motor skills, heart disease, and sometimes diabetes. Edmond resident, Michael Gehr, son of organizing committee leaders, Liz and Eric, was diagnosed with FA in January 2016. 

Outback Steakhouse, the Soirée’s first Platinum Sponsor, will cater the Soirée as a generous in-kind contribution. The organizing committee seeks additional sponsors for this exciting event! Four sponsor levels are available: 

Platinum Sponsor - $5,000
- 8 tickets at a reserved table in a preferred location
- Logo on invitation, tables, banner, program, social media, & website

Gold Sponsor - $3,000
- 8 tickets at a reserved table
- Logo on tables, banner, program, social media, & website

Silver Sponsor - $2,000
- 6 tickets
- Logo on banner, program, social media, & website


Bronze Sponsor - $800
- 4 tickets
- Logo on banner, program, social media, & name on website

So far the 2020 Cure FA Soirée has six other sponsors: Gold - Gehr Innovation Company; Silver - Cooper Auto Group; Bronze - COOP Ale Works, Dobson Technologies, OU Medicine, and Universal Fidelity Life Insurance Company. 

Music has always been important to the Gehr family. Liz and Eric met performing in college, and would sing their sons, Thomas and Michael, to sleep with harmony. The family sang the National Anthem four times for the Oklahoma City Redhawks, starting when Thomas and Michael were in second and fourth grades. So when Michael was diagnosed, the family reacted with music, creating the Cure FA Soirée ! Thomas and Michael, talented friends, and professionals including their school music faculty, fill the evenings with music, interspersed with stories of FA and efforts to treat and cure it. 

Thanks to funding by FARA, incredible progress has been made toward finding treatments. Sponsorships will save lives! The Cure FA Soirée invites businesses, foundations, families, and other entities to sponsor. Reserved tables with eight tickets are also available for $1,000, but without the promotions of sponsorships. The Soirée website, www.curefasoiree.org , has details on the 2020 event. To sponsor, please contact Eric at (405) 503-5875 or eric@gehr.org . See you at the Soirée!!! 

The Cure FA Soirée debuted in 2018, exceeding expectations, with 220 attendees, dozens of friends and professionals performing, and $64,000 raised for FARA. 2019 brought 230 guests, more wonderful performances, and $120,000 for FARA. Families of 12 people with FA attended the first two Soirées, and speakers included local FA researchers Sanjay Bidichandani and Layne Rodden, from OU Medicine. Soirée goals for 2020 are 250 guests and $150,000 for FARA! 

Michael Gehr , a 2018 Presidential Scholar (www2.ed.gov/programs/psp) and recipient of Heritage Hall’s Faculty Award, recently completed his third semester at Washington University in St. Louis, and he plans to study math and economics. In 2016 Michael participated in a clinical trial of omaveloxolone, by Reata Pharmaceuticals. The next year he screened The Ataxian , which was seen by 270 people and raised $32,000 for FARA. In early 2019 Michael began an extension of the omaveloxolone trial, so he’ll fit clinical visits into his studies for the next two years. Since omaveloxolone’s Phase II Clinical Trial reported positive results in late 2019, we may soon see the first drug approved to partially-alleviate symptoms of FA! 

The Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) fosters development of promising discoveries to slow, stop, and reverse the damage of Friedreich’s ataxia. Eighteen potential treatments are in FARA’s pipeline with several ongoing clinical trials. FARA is a national, public, 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt organization (Tax ID 52-2122720) dedicated to research aimed at treating and curing FA. For further info, visit www.cureFA.org , call (484) 879-6160 or e-mail info@cureFA.org .