The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is looking for volunteers in our Maywood, NJ office the week of November 16th (anyday that week)!!!! MDA is a non-profit organization that helps raise funds to assist children and adults with 43 different neuromuscular diseases. (See below for the MDA Story).

We are looking for students, adults, and seniors that are interested in coming to our office and stuffing envelopes for a huge mailing we have going out. Please feel free to reply to this email or you may contact our office at 201-843-4452. Thank you!!





THE MDA STORY


"There are no incurable diseases," Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, the world-renowned heart surgeon and MDA Vice President has said. "There are only diseases for which no treatment has yet been developed."

As late as 1950, very little was being done to combat neuromuscular disease. In that year, a small group of parents whose youngsters had muscular dystrophy decided to do something about this, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association was born.

Energized by its indefatigable National Chairman, Jerry Lewis, who has been MDA's number one volunteer for more than four decades, MDA today is one of the world's leading voluntary health agencies fostering research and medical care.

But in the beginning, there was only the determination and faith of MDA's founders. Muscle disease was an enemy then largely unknown even to physicians. The major muscle disorders had been named and classified, and their symptoms reported -- but virtually nothing was being done either to establish the causes of these supposedly incurable disorders or to develop effective methods of treatment and cure.

The members of the infant MDA set out to change this picture -- by raising money to support research, to provide medical care, and to bring this national problem to public attention.

Public response to the new organization was immediate. Within a year of its founding, MDA was backed by five affiliated chapters -- a roster that has grown to include over 160 chapters nationwide including the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

MDA's authorized nationwide services program, covering over 40 muscle disorders, provides comprehensive diagnostic examinations; follow-up medical management; counseling; assistance with the purchase and repair of wheelchairs or leg braces; physical and respiratory therapy; support groups; and a summer camp program for youngsters age 6-21. The MDA camp program, a pioneer one-site undertaking in 1955, has grown to some 90 camping sessions in over 42 states and Puerto Rico.

MDA has also established a nationwide network of over 225 hospital-affiliated clinics. These facilities provide a wide range of medical and counseling services.

In addition to its vital services program, MDA sponsors programs of professional and public health education and training to foster greater awareness of and concern with the problems of muscle disease.

Public support of MDA has been forthcoming in generous measure -- thanks to a volunteer army of more than two million men, women and children. Spearheaded by MDA's annual Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon, fund-raising campaigns have been organized on both the local and national levels that have made possible not only the wide range of services offered by MDA, but also an extensive program of research on muscle disease. More than 400 research teams throughout the United States and abroad are supported by MDA.

MDA is the world's leading voluntary agency in genetic research and has brought about significant breakthroughs in many research areas.

There is realistic hope today for treatments for muscle diseases, and practical help is available in generous measure for the tens of thousands affected by them. The fight that MDA is waging will be continued until it is won!

• Location: MAYWOOD, NJ
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