Reprinted from the Pioneer Press Newspaper

July 15, 1999

Party nets $600,000 for research

Photo Captions: (top) (From left) Robin Baba, Rory's father Ross M. Deutsch, and Beth Conen, all of Highland Park.

(center) Sandy Baker, who was Rory's second grade teacher at Indian Trail school in Highland Park, with Rory's mother Mindy Deutsch.

(bottom) Rory's brother Robbie Deutsch sells lemonade during the kick-off of a summer-long fund-raiser for the Rory David Deutsch Foundation.

The first-ever benefit for the Rory David Deutsch Foundation, held April 25 at the Planetarium in Chicago, was attended by 1,650 people and raised $600,000 for pediatric brain tumor research.

"It was phenomenal," said Ross Deutsch of Highland Park, who with his wife Mindy established the foundation last July, just after their son Rory died of the age of 7 from a brain stem tumor "The kind of response we've been getting has been amazing."

With the funds raised at the benefit, the foundation has now collected more than $1 million for medical research.

And there is more to come.

Every weekend from Memorial Day to Labor Day, children will sell glasses of lemonade for $1, with proceeds going directly to the foundation. The goal is to sell 50,000 glasses, netting $50,000 to fight pediatric brain tumors, which are diagnosed at a rate of about 2,000 per year in the United States.

Another fund-raising gala will be Charita-Ball 99, sponsored by the VisionTek Foundation of Skokie at Navy Pier, on Sept. 18.

"They have selected the Rory David Deutsch Foundation to be their beneficiary this year," said Deutsch "Our mission is to discover medical treatments that will combat fatal tumors and cure the afflicted children."

For information on the foundation, call (888) 919-RORY (7679).