Do Your Holiday Shopping on Greenwich Ave to Benefit DART

On Thursday, December 9, shoppers can help support Dana’s Angels Research Trust’s efforts by shopping at the following stores on Greenwich Avenue in Greenwich.

The stores will donate 10-20% of sales when you mention DART!

• 1pm-3pm Veronica Beard
• 2pm-4pm Vineyard Vines
• 3pm-5pm Splurge
• 4pm-6pm Shoes n More

But the donations are good all day as long as you mention DART!

And be sure to grab lunch or dinner that day with 20% to DART at these two outstanding restaurants on Greenwich Avenue:

• Meli-Melo
• Bistro V (formerly Versailles)

DART is a 501(c)3 public charity that raises funds for medical research of a rare, degenerative and fatal disease, Niemann-Pick type C (NPC). It has often been referred to as Childhood Alzheimer’s.

The Marella family has lived in Greenwich, CT for over 25 years and raised their 4 children here. Two of their children, Dana and Andrew, were diagnosed with NPC. Sadly, Dana passed away 8 years ago at the age of 19 after losing all her abilities. She lost her ability to walk or talk, had a feeding tube and a tracheostomy.

The Marellas’s youngest child, Andrew, is now 22 years old and is suffering from seizures, swallowing and balance issues and cognitive decline but he is doing far better than his sister, thanks to the medical progress that DART has been able to fund.

DART helped launch 4 drug trials in less than 10 years and is now a major sponsor of a Newborn Screen initiative already started in 8 hospitals in New York State. NPC will be among other genetic diseases screened at birth.

Research has shown that a cure for NPC will lead to improved treatments for major illnesses like Alzheimer’s, stroke, heart disease, HIV/Aids and Ebola, which are all related to the metabolism of cholesterol. Today, at least 13 companies have NPC programs underway, two of which are in the later stages of regulatory review with the FDA.

All this progress has been made possible, in large part, from the generosity in this community. With the help of many individuals, corporations and retailers, DART has raised almost $6 million to date, with over 95% going directly to the medical research in major institutions like Stanford, Notre Dame, UPenn, Columbia, Weill Cornell, Dartmouth, University of Texas SW, and Oxford, England, among numerous others.

On behalf of the Marella family and all the families afflicted with this brutal disease, please join the effort by doing your holiday shopping on Thursday, December 9th at the participating retailers and restaurants. And remember to mention DART when you purchase.

To learn more about Dana’s Angels Research Trust (DART) visit danasangels.org, on Facebook
@danasangels, Instagram @danasangelsNPC and Twitter @danasangels.