MLB MUGS
Cheers To Charity: HelpCureHD Foundation
Dugout Mugs is proud to announce that the HelpCureHD Foundation is our first Cheers to Charity recipient for the month of May. The organization was started by MLB veteran Joe Smith and sports reporter, Allie LaForce (who also happens to be Joe's wife!). The mission of the HelpCureHD Foundation is to help improve the quality of life for those affected by Huntington’s Disease by contributing financial and emotional support while trying to find the cure.
After Joe's mother, Lee, was diagnosed with HD in 2012, Joe made a promise to do everything in his power to make his mother’s life, and all those suffering from the disease easier. While many organizations are searching for cures in the future, Smith and LaForce are focusing on the here and now.
"We hope that many of the promising studies will produce results in the future," Smith said. "However, for my mom and many others currently living with HD, this may come too late. We are committed to finding ways to improve the quality of life for those living with HD and mitigate the harsh symptoms."
For Dugout Mugs owners Randall Thompson and Kris Dehnert, the opportunity to support the HelpCureHD Foundation, in conjunction with it being Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month, was a natural fit.
“This will be the third time that we have collaborated with the HelpCureHD Foundation,” Dehnert noted. “The first was in 2019 at a banquet in Houston with most of the Astros in attendance and then for their annual golf tournament in California earlier this year (2021). Joe and Allie are a couple of the most down-to-earth genuine people I've met, which is extremely refreshing in the world of sports.”
Huntington’s Disease is a hereditary brain disorder that currently affects over 30,000 people in just the United States. Individuals with HD become unable to care for themselves as their nerve cells slowly deteriorate and everyday tasks like walking and cognitive skills become difficult.
Dugout Mugs Cheers to Charity initiative celebrates and serves the heroes of the baseball community and Joe and Allie’s HelpCureHD Foundation fits that description. In addition to our initial donation, a portion of all sales using DugoutMugs.com/HelpCureHD will go directly back to the foundation. It’s money that will go directly to these families and impact the lives of countless families who deal with Huntington’s Disease.
“The procedures and research seem to be tedious and expensive, so to have a couple of powerhouses blazing a trail for those less fortunate to follow is admirable,” Dehnert added. “At the end of the day, we are all in this together. Randall and I have been very blessed to be able to run this company over the last five years and we both agree that giving back was part of the plan from the beginning, so to see it come to fruition is a really great feeling.”
To learn more about Huntington’s Disease, the HelpCureHD Foundation, and how you can get involved please visit https://helpcurehd.org/.
About Cheers To Charity:
Our #CheersToCharity initiative has helped numerous foundations and organizations in our baseball community including the David Ortiz Children’s Fund, Mariano Rivera Foundation, Lance McCullers Jr. Foundation, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Eddie Guardado Foundation, and many others.
If you know any heroes of the baseball world, let us know so we can continue to celebrate & serve them through our Cheers to Charity initiative!
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