South Carolina Family Motivated by Challenge Match

December 16, 2009

When Milestones to a Cure campaign chair Joe O’Donnell announced this summer that two CF families had made $6 million available for major gift matches, he challenged everyone in the CF community to make their donations to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation go twice as far. Since then, generous family and friends have given $5 million in major gifts and pledges with just $1 million to go to assure the match donation by Dec. 31.

Mary Elizabeth Huggins, 16, with her brothers Alek and Charlie.

Rex and Jane Huggins of Florence, S.C., were eager to meet the Milestones challenge and were among the first to make a major gift following the announcement.

“When Rex and I found out about this opportunity, we knew we had to jump at the chance to make our gift go that much further,” said Jane. “The Foundation has transformed life with this disease. Right now, there are drugs in development that treat the root cause of CF. We couldn’t have picked a better time to support the exciting progress in CF research.” 

The Huggins’ daughter, Mary Elizabeth, 16, was diagnosed with CF before her first birthday. For every birthday after that, the Huggins ask that presents for their daughter come in a special kind of package.

“We tell all of our friends and family about the CF Foundation,” says Jane. “We ask people to make a donation to the Foundation instead of buying gifts.” This past year, the family walked in Great Strides and hit the greens at the Ultimate Golf Experience, both to benefit the CF Foundation.

“I’m amazed by the work the Foundation has done to advance the search for a cure,” says Jane. “I look forward to the day when a child is diagnosed with CF and the doctor says, ‘It’s no big deal – we can fix that.’”

To take part in the match and make your gift have twice the impact, please contact Managing Director of Major GiftsGina Schewe at (301) 907-2506 or rschewe@cff.org.