Treasurer’s Report
by Enid Deutsch and
Ellyn Samsky

The net proceeds of the Rory David Deutsch Foundation for the period January 1, 2002 through May 31, 2003 were in excess of $431,000. This raised the total fundraising, dollars since our inception to nearly $3.6 million dollars.

Our event “Under the Stars for Rory” held in late September, 2002 generated close to $200,000. Just one week later, our “Evening with Coach “K” raised nearly $230,000. Together these two evenings provided for a rather successful week last fall. A heartfelt thanks to all who attended.

Once again, The Rory David Deutsch Foundation was the grateful recipient of several fundraising efforts sponsored by merchants and donors from the Highland Park area. Olga’s Day Spa, for the fourth year, generously contributed nearly $8,600 by donating a day’s revenues. In 2002 and 2003, Campus Colors donated a percentage of their retail sales and one hundred percent of their raffle ticket sales, which brought The Foundation over $6,300. Steve Kessler of “CD City” performed at the Apple Tree Theatre and raised close to $3,700. In June, Saks Fifth Avenue in Highland Park donated a percentage of its sales for an evening amounting to nearly $2,700.

General donations to the foundation accounted for close to $216,000. These came from a host of individuals and organizations. Many readers of our previous newsletters, “Reaching Out” responded generously to the coupon included. Others purchased all-occasion donation cards. These cards can be purchased for $4 each by calling the foundation office at 1-888-919-RORY or by visiting our web site at www.roryd.org. In the spirit of helping kids, the Highland Park High School 2003 Charity Drive raised $88,000 over the course of one month with many many fundraisers at the high school. The high school charity drive is a wonderful event that brings the entire community together. It also provided a great venue for our Foundation to fulfill one of the aspects of its mission – to involve kids, to the greatest extent possible in fundraising efforts.

We have made the third of ten $200,000 installments to Duke University and the second of five $50,000 installments to Children’s Memorial Hospital. Our executive committee has increased the endowment from $1,250,000 to $1,500,000. Together each of these milestones guarantees that The Foundation will go on in perpetuity and make our dream that much closer to a reality – a cure for the devastating disease that took our beloved Rory much too soon.