Dear Family and Friends,
It is hard to believe that close to 11 years ago, our son Keith passed away suddenly from a rare type of Polyglycogen storage disease. Keith began to show symptoms of his illness at a very young age and as time passed, his ailments became more severe, involving cardiomyopathy and overall muscular and skeletal body involvement. As a family, we decided soon after his death, to form The Keith B. Hayes Foundation in honor and memory of Keith relating Grants and Endowments to those with similar difficulties that our son experienced. Keith was a very giving, sensitive young man of 20 who gave much of his energy to help others in need. His last 2 years of life, he was confined to a wheelchair, but this never broke his spirit. In fact, he was privately guiding others on line how to deal with their maladies as well as being trained to be a mentor by formally called 'Rockland Independent Living' and now known as Bridges. We have become, through this Foundation, his 'voice' to help others in need and with disabilities. As a contributing Foundation to The Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan County for the past 10 1/2 years, we have been pleased to reach out to several organizations through the years and increase our annual increments. Please know that it is with your continued commitment and generosity that we are able to maintain 6 figures in our account!
To update you: *It should be noted, that we are endowed by CFOS and traditionally are to give 5%-6% of our earnings in our account in order to perpetuate our Foundation. However, as a family, we have chosen to give up to 12% annually towards research and organizations that we feel related to Keith and the disease he suffered from. This past year in 2018 we were able to once again increase our Grants to the majority to whom we endow.
1- For the past 6 years we have been granting funds towards research at Columbia Presbyterian in NYC related to Polyglucosen disease, which Keith was post par tum diagnosed with. Dr. H. Orhan Aikman, Assistant Professor of Neurology at annual giving has been utilizing these funds towards continued researching this degenerative myopathic disease, so that one day it can arrest its progression. We are proud that The Keith B. Hayes Foundation was able to once again increase our endowment to $15,000. (for further information on Dr. Aikman's research, please visit our website thekeithbhayesfoundation.org)
2- Bridges, formerly known as Rockland Independent Living Center, New City, NY is a non-profit organization which helps individuals with any form of a disability to learn skills and strive to become independent. Keith was in training to become a mentor before he passed away. Annually, now Bridges, honors Keith's memory by awarding an individual who  works with this population "The Spirit of Mentoring" held annually on Disability Awareness Day.  We awarded once again $1,000.00.
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