[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 96 (Thursday, July 1, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1478-E1479]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       SUMTER, SOUTH CAROLINA ROTARY CLUB DEVELOPS ``CART'' FUND

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, JR.

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, July 1, 1999

  Mr. SPRATT. Mr. Speaker, every day Alzheimer's disease claims more 
victims. Over four million Americans suffer from this dread disease, 
and scientists predict that unless cures are found, the number of 
victims will grow to fourteen million within the next twenty-five 
years. More people are also experiencing the tragedy second-hand as 
family members or friends of someone afflicted with Alzheimer's. They 
too feel helpless in the face of this awful illness. Options for 
treatment are limited, and care for the victim can be difficult and 
demanding. Family and friends become frustrated, not knowing what they 
can do.
  The members of the Rotary Club in Sumter, South Carolina have found 
that there is something we can do. They have devised a technique to 
raise money for research, a technique so successful that I would like 
to share it with Congress and call attention to it, because what 
Rotarians have started in Sumter deserves to be copied across America.

[[Page E1479]]

  There is hope on the horizon for Alzheimer's disease. Research teams 
are making progress in our understanding the disease. In 1995, 
scientists identified the gene believed to cause the most aggressive 
form of the disease. But no cause or cure has been found yet, and 
future research will require millions of dollars.
  To help support the search for a cure, the Sumter Rotary Club 
developed what it calls the ``CART'' fund--Coins for Alzheimer's 
Research Trust. At each club meeting, Rotarians are asked to empty 
their pockets of loose change--a small gesture that has generated large 
results. In a nine-month period, the 155 members of the Sumter Rotary 
Club raised over $4,200 in this manner. Their success led them to share 
their idea with District 7770, which consists of 71 Rotary clubs with 
some 5,000 members. District 7770 adopted the project in 1996, and made 
Roger Ackerman Chairman and Dr. Jack Bevan and General Howard Davis 
(Retired) Co-Chairmen. District 7770 is driving forward with two major 
goals--awarding a $100,000 grant to a medical institution on the 
cutting edge of Alzheimer's research and encouraging other Rotary 
districts to start a CART campaign. The other Rotary district in South 
Carolina, District 7750, plans to launch the project next month, and by 
next summer, the team hopes to add ten more districts. their ultimate 
goal: to have Rotary International to adopt the project.
  I am proud to represent these enterprising Rotarians. I commend them 
for spearheading this worthy project and encourage others across 
America to follow their example.

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