On Sunday, October 17, the Order of the Eastern Star presented the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation with checks totaling more than $25,000. The gifts, from the Oklahoma Grand Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star and Eastern Star Chapter 77, will fund research on neurological diseases and multiple sclerosis.“The Eastern Star has been a dedicated partner in helping to fight diseases that touch all of our lives,” said OMRF Development Director Meredith Miers. “We deeply appreciate the hard work and generosity of every Eastern Star member who made these gifts possible.”
Miers accepted two checks on Sunday at the Eastern Star Training Awards for Religious Leadership and Youth Awards at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple in Guthrie. With these gifts, the Order of the Eastern Star has donated more than $70,000 in the last three years to OMRF.
Eastern Star members raised the funds through monthly collections at the organization’s 150-plus state chapters and through Chapter 77’s Star Bike Ride, which was held in Purcell on September 27 and featured 10-mile, 25-mile and 55-mile courses.
DeeAnn Simpson, who organized the Eastern Star Bike Ride, said that she has a very personal reason for supporting multiple sclerosis research. “My sons have watched their father battle multiple sclerosis, and I want to do everything I can to make sure that the disease never strikes them,” she said.
“It is inspiring to see someone take a personal tragedy and use it as a catalyst for helping others,” said Miers. “We know that people like DeeAnn Simpson gave of themselves to raise these funds, and all of us at OMRF will work to transform their efforts into treatments and cures.”
To this end, OMRF scientists have created an inhibitor for the enzyme believed to cause Alzheimer’s disease. They are now working to turn this discovery into a drug to treat the disease, which affects more than four million Americans. An OMRF discovery has also led to an experimental stroke drug that is currently in the final phase of human clinical trials. If theses trials prove successful, the drug could prevent and even reverse brain injuries caused by strokes, which strike approximately 700,000 Americans each year.
The Order of the Eastern Star is the largest fraternal organization in the world to which both men and women may belong. It counts approximately one million members worldwide, including 20,000 Oklahomans, and is dedicated to furthering charity, education, science and fraternity.
OMRF is a nonprofit biomedical research institute dedicated to understanding and curing human disease. For more than half a century, its scientists have focused on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. OMRF is home to Oklahoma’s only member of the National Academy of Sciences.
