The Greater New York Chapter of the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NYCSCIA) held its 4th Annual Mardi Gras Fund Raiser on February 5th at the Saloon, located at 1584 York Avenue in New York City.  It was delightful to see so many new faces along with our old friends.  We are pleased to announce that this year’s event raised more than $13,000! 

The guest of honor and recipient of this year’s award for outstanding devotion and dedication to the SCI community was Dr. Thomas Bryce, the Medical Director of the Spinal Cord Injury Program at The Mount Sinai Medical Center and Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.  Dr. Bryce has dedicated himself to the spinal cord community in both his professional and private life.  He is the founder of the Chapter’s Andrew Bryce Life Challenge Scholarship Fund.  The Life Challenge Program utilizes adventure trips such as snow skiing, water skiing, white water rafting, scuba diving and sky diving to encourage spinal cord injured persons to confront situations and obstacles that seem impossible for them because of their disabilities.  The experience empowers participants and helps them to realize that they can lead an independent life.  The Scholarship Fund keeps the cost of these trips to a token donation for SCI participants. 

After a buffet dinner we were treated to an energetic performance by 4WheelCity, a hip-hop group featuring Tapwaterz and Ricfire, two of our members who use their music to increase disability awareness, inspire, educate, and enhance the quality of life of people living in wheelchairs.

Please click on the photos above for a larger version.

This year raffle prizes included a fantastic collection of designer jewelry from Cousin Claudine, Gold Passports for a Day at Chelsea Piers Sports & Entertainment Complex, tickets for the Mets and Brooklyn Cyclone baseball games, a tandem skydive jump at the Blue Sky Ranch from the owner Joe Richards, gift certificates for dinner at Gallagher’s Steakhouse in NYC from our great friends, John and Dan Bussani, the owners of AVM – Accessible Vans & Mobility, a private dance lesson with Rubin Zakiryanov, President of Wheelchair Dancesport USA Association, an Adventure Discovery Flight from Chris Richards at Academy of Aviation, LLC out in Farmingdale, Long Island, a weekend ski trip in Vermont sponsored by the Holiday Inn Rutland/Killington and the Bart J. Ruggiere Adaptive Sports Center, a selection of Ralph Lauren bedding and towels from Westpoint Homes and original artwork created by Eduardo Standard, one of our members

We are again grateful for the generosity of our friend, Jeff Brosi who donated the use of his bar, “The Saloon”, for this annual event.

We will be using most of the funds raised at Mardi Gras 2008 to purchase laptop computers and adaptive computer equipment for the SCI unit at The Mount Sinai Hospital Rehabilitation Center.  The balance will help fund ongoing programs such as ThinkFirst!, our effort to prevent traumatic injuries among young people through injury prevention education, Urban Outings, an initiative to help newly injured persons transition back into the community by having them plan and take local outings together in order to promote independence and self-confidence and of course, the Andrew Bryce Life Challenge Scholarship Fund.  

Remember to circle your calendar for our next Mardi Gras – February 24, 2009.