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National MS Society Chosen as one of Jimmie Johnson's Helmet of Hope Charities
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
By: Logan Stewart

NASCAR driver will wear MS logo on his race helmet at Auto Club Speedway in August

Johnson Adds Two Charities to Helmet of Hope Initiative 

CONCORD, N.C.   (July 29) Jimmie Johnson has chosen two more charities to adorn his race helmet at Auto Club Speedway in August as part of the Jimmie Johnson Foundation Helmet of Hope initiative. The latest winners are The Children’s Fund for Glycogen Storage Disease (Cheshire, Conn.) and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. 

Jimmie and Chandra Johnson announced in New Hampshire that in conjunction with the Jimmie Johnson Foundation’s second-annual Golf Tournament in San Diego, Calif., race fans and media members nationwide would have the opportunity to participate in the Helmet of Hope initiative, allowing them the chance to nominate charities which they feel should be featured on the helmet.  

Fans can nominate their charity by visiting www.jimmiejohnsonfoundation.org  and explaining why their organization should be chosen.  

Kathy Graham of Stokesdale, N.C. selected The Children’s Fund for Glycogen Storage Disease, an organization “committed to funding research so that children born with GSD1 will benefit from early detection, treatment and an eventual cure.” GSD1 is a rare genetic metabolic disorder centered in the liver. Graham says her daughter, Rylee, has Glycogen Storage Disease and hopes that with increased awareness and research a cure is in the near future. She added, “Researchers are making great advances however so few people even know GSD exists.  The Children's Fund promotes a great motto and I believe it ‘because every child deserves to be healthy.’” For more information on this organization, visit http://www.curegsd.org/. 

SPEED Channel’s John Luzzi nominated the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, which “helps people affected by MS by funding cutting-edge research, driving change through advocacy, facilitating professional education, and providing programs and services that help people with MS and their families move their lives forward.”  Luzzi nominated this charity because he found out in 2003 that at 25 years old he had the early stages of MS. Luzzi said, “Today there is no cure for MS, and with diagnosis occurring most frequently between the ages of 20 and 50, many individuals face a lifetime filled with unpredictability and uncertainty for the future. Getting awareness out to the public and raising money for a cure is my number one priority at this time in my life.” For more information, visit www.nationalmssociety.org. 

Johnson will draw two charities each race weekend through the Michigan event in August, collecting a total of 12 winning organizations.  The first four charities chosen were Monarch (Albemarle, N.C.), Breakthrough Manchester (Manchester, N.H.), STEP, Inc. (Rocky Mount, Va.) and the American Diabetes Society (Alexandria, Va.).