The Connelly Foundation
Children's Lekotek of Southeastern Pennsylvania has been awarded a grant of  $15,900 by the Connelly Foundation. An innovative early intervention learning program administered by Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Children's Lekotek offers special-needs children a unique head start.

By teaching special-needs children and their families how to play, Lekotek provides the children with a foundation for success later in life and helps them to develop positive relationships with family members and peers. Lekotek lends appropriate toys to participants for home use, and also provides older children with access to specially adapted computers that encourage them to play and learn.

The support of the Connelly Foundation will enable Lekotek to provide a School-Year Compuplay Camp that will provide more computer time and socialization opportunities for the children. Moreover, this gift will support Lekotek sessions at local community sites and in the homes of medically fragile children, and help Lekotek to create a scholarship fund to enroll low-income families who cannot afford the program's modest costs.

The Connelly Foundation, located in West Conshohocken, has been a longtime supporter of Lekotek's ingenious programming.

The William M. Fuller Foundation
Jefferson's Rothman Institute Research Laboratory received $50,000 from the William M. Fuller Foundation of Midland, TX, at the recommendation of L. Robert French Jr. and his wife, Marcia.

Mr. French is a patient of Todd Albert, MD, of Jefferson's Department of Orthopaedic surgery and founder of the Rothman Institute. Mr. French has contributed to the Institute to express his appreciation of the care provided by Dr. Rothman and his staff.

The Rotko Family Foundation
The Rotko Family Foundation recently donated $35,000 to Jefferson's Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Center. This gift will help the Center focus on decreasing the risk of recurrent disease in patients with previous cardiovascular ailments and preventing the onset of heart disease in those at risk.

The Foundation was established in 1982 by Bernard Rotko, MD, JMC'35, who died in 1989. Through the years, the Rotko family has generously supported the Dr. and Bernard B. Rotko Scholarship and other resources at Jefferson. Dr. Rotko's widow, Bessie, and their daughter Judith Rotko Shipon, who are trustees of the Foundation, are long-time friends of Jefferson. David Shipon, MD, JMC'96, Mrs. Shipon's son, has completed his residency in internal medicine at Jefferson.

The Gilbert Memorial Trust
The J. Roland Gilbert, Mary R. Gilbert, and Elizabeth a. Gilbert Memorial Trust awarded nearly $8,000 to Raphael DeHoratius, MD, Professor of Medicine, Jefferson Medical College, for lupus research. This is the second year in a row that Dr. DeHoratius has received support from the Trust.

This gift will enable Dr. DeHoratius to investigate how a novel drug therapy recently developed for treatment of renal lupus works. The drug may also show promise for patients who have Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) without renal involvement. Dr. DeHoratius hopes to gain a greater understanding of SLE to help patients with this disease enjoy an improved quality of life.

Visit The Jefferson 2000 Fund website at http://www.tju.edu/jeffgiving/

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