Tampa Bay Chapter Welcome Letter

Dear Friends of the FFB Tampa Bay Area Chapter:

Welcome to the Tampa Bay Area Chapter of FFB! Our goal as chapter leaders is to hold general chapter meetings that will be beneficial in terms of education and support for people with retinal degenerative diseases. We also provide a sense of community and hope.

As chapter president and membership chair, respectively, we want to share our personal story. We are two sisters who have joined in the effort to fight for sight, although only one of us has been affected by retinitis pigmentosa (RP). In 2007, we had lunch with Kim Marlow, a regional director of development with FFB, and her enthusiasm inspired us to come on board and help raise funds for the Foundation. Initially, Melissa and I took on the role of co-chairs of the inaugural Tampa Bay VisionWalk, and it was a great experience with the event raising over $42,000. After the VisionWalk, Melissa and I both agreed to take on leadership roles on the board of the new Tampa Bay Area Chapter along with some other great people we have met through VisionWalk.

Our chapter is one of many across the country that works very hard to help people keep current on the latest research and developments for retinal diseases. We also learn about support services and other opportunities that are available in the St. Pete/Tampa Bay area. Over the past year, chapter members have heard from retinal specialists and low vision specialists and we have plans for more local speakers to present at our upcoming meetings.

Although we are a new chapter we are fortunate to have active and engaged chapter officers that carry the spirit of FFB’s Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board Gordon Gund. His vision is our vision: We will, save and restore sight by raising money for vital research. We are looking forward to growing our chapter board and invite you to contact any of us.

Together we work to help support FFB’s research through the Tampa Bay VisionWalk and are planning on launching another of FFB signature fundraising events called Dining in the Dark. We serve as chief ambassadors for FFB, and want to make sure that as many people as possible know about our chapter, about FFB and about the hope that we all have for a future with sight.

We encourage you to check our webpage for upcoming meeting dates and fundraising events. Please come out and join us. Our meetings are a time to educate and connect with others, but we make sure we have a fun time while we are at it.

We’d love to hear from you, and we welcome your participation in the FFB Tampa Bay Area Chapter!

Sending our regards,