Research Foundation Honors Bob Saget With $1.5M Matching Gift
The Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF) will match every dollar donated in honor of the late comedian Bob Saget — a 30-year board member — up to $1.5 million.
The matching gift was donated by fellow board members Luke Evnin, PhD, and Deann Wright after family, friends, and fans sought to honor Saget’s legacy, who died on Jan. 9. With this gift, the foundation hopes to raise funds and awareness to continue Saget’s dedication to the organization’s mission to cure scleroderma.
“We, along with Bob’s family, want to honor him and the legacy he wanted to leave behind, to recognize his singular and lifelong commitment to the Scleroderma Research Foundation, and to help us find a way to turn this horrible moment into something for the good,” Evnin said in a press release. “Deann and I have pledged to match the first $1.5 million that is received in this tribute.”
Saget, also an actor, writer, director, and producer, promoted scleroderma awareness since his sister died from the chronic autoimmune disorder.
Since 1991, Saget has hosted the Cool Comedy – Hot Cuisine fundraiser, which brought together comedians and musicians, raising more than $25 million for scleroderma research. In 2003, he joined the SRF board of directors and actively contributed to the organization’s daily operations. Saget also met with patients and shared how scleroderma affected his own family’s life.
“Being able to see direct positive results of the Foundation’s work is the biggest gift of all,” Saget said in a recent interview with the SRF.
“Bob was the anchor of our SRF family. This organization was so close to his heart,” said Joanne Gold, the foundation’s executive director. “He worked tirelessly every day to educate the public about this disease and help raise funds to drive research forward. His love and positivity radiated to everyone, and he brought so much hope and inspiration to scleroderma patients throughout the world.”
“We can’t imagine being able to do this work without Bob, but we owe it to him to push forward to one day find a cure,” Gold added.
To honor Saget and his scleroderma-related activities, the company Skypod announced $1.5 million in Skypod Credits to be donated to scleroderma patients and their families to create digital time capsules.
Skypod is a cloud storage platform that allows users to record, save, and upload personal photos, videos, and other digital files to be delivered to recipients at a later date.
“I can only imagine the confusion and pain of a scleroderma diagnosis,” Skypod founder and CEO Richard Jardine said in a separate press release. “I know if a member of my family were put in that situation, they would be so concerned about us remembering them and our happy memories as a family.”
“That’s why it’s so important to me that these families have Skypod, to hold onto those important memories for a lifetime,” Jardine added.
To receive free Skypod Credits, scleroderma patients and families may click here to sign up.
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