Interim House
Philadelphia, PA
Interim House, an affiliate of PHMC, with their own 501c-3 status is 25 bed residential treatment and outpatient program serving women with addictions. Interim House proveds a continuum of comprehensive services to women addicted to drugs and alcohol that includes three levels of care; Residential Treatment, Intensive Outpatient Treatment, and Outpatient counseling. Incorporated in 1971, Interim House was the first such specialized program in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and one of the first in the nation. It has served as a model for innovative treatment of substance abusing women.

Interim House untilizes a holistic approach to treating drug and alcohol addiction that is traumasensitive, focusing on the physical, mental, emotional, and spirtual issues surrounding addiction. Interim House offers a wide range of therapeutic and support services to clients with an emphasis on:
• Preventing relaps
• Establishing stability and responsibility
• Improving life and parenting skills
• Developing and strengthening a support system
• Establishing links to support services

Hallandale Food Pantry/United Methodist Church
Hallandale Beach, FL
The Hallandale Food Pantry provides emergency food packages given to individuals and families in need.

Their clients are unique because of the diversity of their needs. They are more heavily weighted in the areas of families with children who are near homeless and far below the poverty line. The second most prevalent category is the one from by the elderly with fixed incomes that are barely surviving with a difficult time balancing their bills with their need for medication..

Marilyn’s Voice
Mentor, OH
Puppies for sale in pet shops and in front of grocery stores or in a newspaper or internet ad are most likely from puppy mills, or from “backyard bredders” wanting to make a few dollars at your and the animal’s expense.

There are 186 USDA “Class A” licensed breeders and 32 USDA “Class B” licensed dealers in Ohio. With over 10,000 kennel registrations in Ohio, there is great disparity in the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) licensing and inspecting the appropriate number of kennels. The USDA only regulates wholesale businesses. Many puppy mills are not under USDA enforcement because they are not selling wholesale.

This organization is trying to change the laws and close the puppy mills. The goal of Substitute H.B. No. 606 (soon to be posted to the Ohio House website) is to encourage responsible breeding of dogs for the pet industry. The legislation is intended to address those situations where dogs are being warehoused in deplorable conditions.

Jacob’s Cure
Rye, NY
In September of 2000, Jordana created Jacob’s Cure, a non-profit foundation, because of her passion to save the life of her son, Jacob, who is affliced with Canavan disease, a devastating genetic brain disorder. Jacob is essentially trapped in his body. Without intervention, Jacob will lose his sight, his ability to swallow, may be stricken with seizures, become too weak to fight off illness and die within the first decade of his life. Because Canavan is so rare, federal funding has been scarce toward therapeutic research in Canavan disease, so it is through the help of friends, family and a philanthropic community that Jacob and children like him may be cured.

Canavan disease is a fatal genetic neurological disorder that deteriorates the white matter (myelin) in the brain. The white matter forms a protective coating around every nerve in the brain and spinal cord, to ensure that nerve impulses are properly transmitted from one part of the body to another. In children afflicted with Canavan Disease, a gene mutation prevents the production of a critical enzyme call Apartoacyclase. Without this enzyme, an acid called NAA or N-acetylaspartate is not broken down, thereby accumulating to dangerous levels in the brain. This is thought to cause catastrophic effects to the normal formation of the white matter. It is the lack of white matter that leaves Canavan children incapable of performing the simplest functions. Even if they live to their full life expectancy – three to ten years – they become blind, paralyzed, prone to seizures...and increasingly lost to the world around them.

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