PARSIPPANY, N.J. (September 2, 2008) – Representatives from ERA Franchise Systems LLC, based in Parsippany, N.J., presented checks totaling $1.1 million to the Muscular Dystrophy Association during its 43rd annual Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, Aug. 31-Sept 1.
The contribution was delivered to MDA National Chairman and Telethon star Jerry Lewis and his co-hosts during the famous 21½-hour broadcast by P.J. Martin Smith, senior vice president of marketing, ERA Franchise Systems LLC, and MDA vice president. She was joined on stage by representatives from the 2007 ERA® Ed Bilinkas Memorial Award winner, Jack Gaughen Realtor ERA in Camp Hill, Pa. The contribution represents the annual fundraising efforts of the ERA Real Estate franchise network on behalf of MDA.
“The continued support of the ERA network brings us closer to treatments and cures, and sponsors vital MDA assistance like medical clinics and summer camp,” Lewis said. “Thanks to help like theirs, one day, hope will become reality for ‘my kids.'”
ERA Real Estate has been an MDA national sponsor for 31 years and the company and its franchise affiliates have raised over $30 million overall for this great cause. Its network and customers have raised funds for the Association through their “Home in on a Cure” promotional program, as well as through golf tournaments, bowling-a-thons, walk-a-thons and other special events. For more information on these programs, please visit http://mda.org/help/natevents.html.
“Our support of MDA means a great deal to our associates, brokers and employees, because it allows us to be a part of MDA’s great lifesaving efforts,” Martin Smith said. “The ERA Real Estate network’s commitment to Jerry’s Kids will continue until cures for all types of muscular dystrophy are found.”
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is a voluntary health agency working to defeat muscular dystrophy and other related diseases through programs of worldwide research, comprehensive services, and far-reaching professional and public health education. The Association’s programs are funded almost entirely by individual contributors.
MDA maintains clinics nationwide for adults and children with these diseases, including MDA clinics in New Jersey at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Edison, and Englewood Hospital in Englewood.
