Fowlers to be honored at Dining in Dark fundraiser
Foundation Fighting Blindness to recognize pair from Edwardsville, others
The Foundation Fighting Blindness, a national nonprofit focused on finding preventions, treatments and cures for retinal diseases, presents the 11th Annual St. Louis Dining in the Dark Visionary Awards Dinner on Wednesday, Feb. 5. The unique fundraiser will take place at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis. Guests will be encouraged to eat their main course while blindfolded to experience vision loss first-hand. The evening’s proceeds will support research into gene, stem cell and pharmaceutical-based therapies for blinding retinal degenerative diseases, including macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa, which affect more than 10 million Americans.
The Foundation will present its Visionary Award to Foundation Fighting Blindness to recognize Ryan O’Reilly, St. Louis Blues 2019 Stanley Cup and Conn Smythe Trophy Winner, and Greg Fowler, president and CEO, J.F. Electric and Jonathan Fowler, Vice President, J.F. Electric for their focus on the fight against blindness.
J.F. Electric is based in Edwardsville.
Dinner Co-Chairs include Emily Burch, R. Michael Lowenbaum, and Jason Morris. The evening’s emcee will be Chris Kerber, TV play-by-play broadcaster for the St. Louis Blues.
Since its inception in 1971, the Foundation Fighting Blindness has raised over $760 million to support vision-saving research. The FDA approved gene therapy Luxturna is restoring sight to people with certain retinal diseases. A 5-year old girl from St. Louis received this treatment and will be joining us with her family at Dining in the Dark. This breakthrough was a direct result of the Foundation Fighting Blindness’ seed investment which allowed researchers to take the therapy through the early investigational stages critical to any treatment development. On an annual average, more than 73 percent of all money donated to the Foundation directly supports research and public health education.
Sponsorship opportunities are available and range from $2,500 to $50,000. Individual tickets are $250. Visit give.FightingBlindness.org/StLouisDiningintheDark2020 or contact Lynda Shellist at [email protected] or (847) 680-1136 for tickets or sponsorship.
