acac Fitness & Wellness Centers Raise More Than $90,000 for the Focused Ultrasound Foundation
Posted: April 18, 2017 in Chains
acac
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – The Focused Ultrasound Foundation announced the donation of more than $90,000 from acac Fitness & Wellness Centers. The money was raised during acac’s most successful “Work Out and Give Back” campaign to date.
Founded in 1984 as the Atlantic Coast Athletic Club, acac offers comprehensive fitness and wellness programming and has more than 65,000 members in 12 locations. Their physician referred exercise program, p.r.e.p., is the cornerstone of acac’s medical fitness programming. acac partners with area hospitals, physicians and other healthcare professionals to provide services for people of all ages.
Throughout the month of March, people were able to purchase a 30-day membership for $30 at any acac location in support of the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. acac offers this promotion at least once per year, each time benefiting a new organization. Since they began the campaign in 2009, acac has raised more than $850,000 for organizations in their club communities. Last month, over 3,000 people participated in the campaign, and all of the proceeds went to the Foundation.
“We were honored to partner with acac, as our organizations have a common goal of improving lives,” says Focused Ultrasound Foundation chairman, Neal Kassell, MD. “This donation is invaluable in supporting our efforts to advance focused ultrasound as a standard of care and spreading the word about this innovative technology.”
The Focused Ultrasound Foundation was created in 2006 to accelerate the development of a new non-invasive, therapeutic technology that has the potential to improve the lives of millions of patients. Today, focused ultrasound is approved in the United States to treat essential tremor, uterine fibroids, and the prostate, as well as reduce pain from bone metastases. It is also being studied for more than 70 other diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, hypertension, and tumors of the brain, liver, breast, and pancreas.
Most of the Foundation’s annual operating budget comes from private donations, enabling the organization to fund research, foster collaboration, and raise awareness. More than 60 percent of the budget is allocated to fund research and clinical trials.
“The 30 days for $30 campaign is a great way to give back to those making a difference in the community,” says acac owner Phil Wendel. “Partnering with the Focused Ultrasound Foundation was a natural fit, and we are proud to support a fellow Charlottesville-based organization that is changing lives around the world. We are thrilled with the campaign’s success, and we thank everyone in the community for their support and participation.”
As part of the promotion, copies of John Grisham’s book The Tumor were available at all club locations. This short book tells the story of a young father with a lethal brain tumor. His future looks bleak with current medical options, but in an alternate ending, we see ten years into the future when focused ultrasound may be used to successfully treat the tumor. Mr. Grisham has been a member of the Foundation’s Board of Directors since 2008 and wrote The Tumor to help raise awareness of focused ultrasound.
