Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to Present $24,000 Quality of Life Grant to Montclair-Based I Believe, Inc.

Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation to Present $24,000 Quality of Life Grant to Montclair-Based I Believe, Inc.

SHORT HILLS, N.J., July 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, July 28, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation will present a $24,000 Quality of Life grant to I Believe, Inc., a national media resource based in Montclair, New Jersey. The grant will help underwrite programmatic equipment to produce the television show I Believe TV, an inspirational, educational and empowering cable television show produced and hosted by Professir X, which features people that live with paralysis and other disabilities. Professir X, also known as Richard Gaskin, was a young deejay and rap artist and sustained a gunshot to the neck in 1987 which resulted in paralysis.

I Believe TV is currently broadcast over a network of Public, Education & Government (PEG) stations three times daily, potentially reaching 875,000 homes. The grant funds will underwrite the purchase professional cameras, a camera stabilizer system, microphones, carrying cases for equipment and tapes, and a customized professional computer work station for production and editing to enable the I Believe TV to keep up with technological advances and create broadcast-quality media. This grant is funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Award #1U59DD000338).

The grant is one of 86 Quality of Life grants awarded in the 1st Cycle 2009, totaling nearly $500,000. Some grants are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease and Prevention (Award # 1U59DD000338).

The Reeve Foundation awarded almost $500,000 in Quality of Life grants to 86 non-profit organizations nationwide. Conceived by the late Dana Reeve in 1999, the Quality of Life program awards grants twice yearly to organizations that help people living with disabilities become more fully integrated members of society. To date, nearly 1,600 grants have been awarded totaling almost $13 million.

WHEN: Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 10:30 a.m.

WHERE: Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, 636 Morris Turnpike, Suite 3A, Short Hills, NJ 07078, www.ChristopherReeve.org

Available for interviews:
-- Peter T. Wilderotter, President and CEO, Reeve Foundation
-- Joseph Canose, VP, Quality of Life, Reeve Foundation

-- Richard Gaskin ("Professir X"), I Believe, Inc.

About the Reeve Foundation

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. For more information, and to review the entire list of Quality of Life grant recipients, please visit our website at www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.

Source: Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation

CONTACT: Maggie F. Goldberg of the Reeve Foundation, +1-973-379-2690,
media@ChristopherReeve.org

Web Site: http://www.christopherreeve.org/

-------
Profile: intent