At its annual banquet Friday in Stillwater, the Oklahoma Association of Mothers’ Clubs presented the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation with a check for $2,150 to support scientific research. The donation was the result of fund-raising efforts by Mothers’ Clubs chapters statewide and represented the 52nd straight year the association has given to OMRF.“Almost since the day OMRF was born, Oklahoma’s Mothers’ Clubs have been devoted to helping our scientists battle human disease like cancer and Alzheimer’s,” said Penny Voss, OMRF’s vice president of development. “Through countless fund-raisers, these women have helped make a difference in OMRF laboratories.”
Comprised of chapters from Canton, Edmond, Fairland, Fairview, Hennessey, Ponca City, Medford, Okeene and Purcell, the association has made annual gifts to OMRF since 1956. Over the past half-century, those donations have supported a range of scientific needs, from cancer research to laboratory supplies to summer scholarships for state high school and college students in OMRF’s Fleming Scholars program.
“Our organization has had so many members and family members affected by the different health issues that OMRF is working toward a cure,” said Maria Nease of Okeene, immediate past president of the statewide organization. “We feel that OMRF is the best way for us to advance research into these different areas. My own husband died a year and a half ago of lung cancer, and I will always be an advocate for cancer research.”
Founded in 1940 as a “force for child betterment in Oklahoma,” the Oklahoma Association of Mothers’ Clubs counts about 200 members statewide. Since 1956, the clubs have given more than $110,000 to OMRF.
About OMRF:
Chartered in 1946, OMRF (www.omrf.org) is one of the nation’s oldest, most respected biomedical research institutes. Dedicated to understanding and curing human disease, the nonprofit institute focuses on such critical research areas as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, lupus and cardiovascular disease. It is home to Oklahoma’s only member of the National Academy of Sciences.
