Arizona Elks commits to fundraising for UA Steele Children’s Research Center | Community Spirit

The University of Arizona Steele Children’s Research Center will be getting a little extra help from the Arizona Elks Major Projects (AEMP) with fundraising over the next ten years.

AEMP has committed to helping raise $2.5 million for the research center over the course of the next ten years.  Since 1991, AEMP has helped support the Steele Center by raising over $5 million to fund an endowment for research, education, and clinical care. 

The breakdown for new fundraising will include $1 million to support basic science research in autoimmune diseases (i.e. type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease and celiac disease), as well as building a translational research center in Phoenix, to help patients and their families better understand the basic science behind their diagnosis.

While the remaining $1.5 million will go to establish the Arizona Elks Endowed Chair in Statewide Pediatric Research.  The chair will help guarantee financial support for several more years, ensuring that the efforts made by the Arizona Elks in the present, will benefit children in the future.  The prestige of having an endowed chair will also allow the center to recruit top notch clinical research leaders to the Steele Center’s Phoenix enterprise.  The Arizona Elks chair holder will lead the translation of science from “proof of principle” in the laboratory to effective changes in how children are treated for disease in the future.

“Our commitment to the doctors, researchers and young patients who depend on our support will continue to be part of Arizona Elks `good-deed list’ for years to come,” said Jerry Grimes, president of the Arizona Elks Major Projects, in a recent news release. “We appreciate the opportunity to be part of this expanded program in Phoenix, which will benefit so many, who otherwise would be unable to take advantage of new medical breakthroughs.”

Grimes is in charge of the philanthropic arm of the Arizona Elks, whose 28,000 members work year-round to raise funds to support their theme: “Children’s laughter is what we’re after.”  Each lodge holds fundraisers and special events to contribute to their commitment to improving the health of Arizona’s children.

“This is a testament to the positive relationship we share with the Arizona Elks,” said Fayez K. Ghishan, MD, director of the Steele Center, in the same news release. “They truly are our partners in improving children’s health throughout Arizona and beyond.”

“The passion shown by Dr. Ghishan and the researchers at the Steele Center only strengthens our decision to continue supporting the work that may one day provide cures for childhood diseases that touch the lives of the innocent,” said Grimes.