Donor Stories: Bernie Marcus
Bernie Marcus
, co-founder of The Home Depot, Inc. and chairman of the board of The Marcus Foundation, has generously donated $25 million to fund the creation of Autism Speaks. Read the first in our regular series of donor profiles to find out why he thinks this is an important issue to focus on now, and why we need your help to find answers.
In 1991, my wife, Billi, and I established the Marcus Institute, which provides programs for children and adolescents with disorders of the brain and their families. At the time, I had an employee who had a child with a brain disorder. Seeing what she went through on a daily basis, how difficult it was for her to find treatment and services for her child, inspired me to create a program to help families with children suffering from brain disorders. At the time, there was no such program in Georgia, or, for that matter, the entire southeast. Since we began, we've served more than 22,000 children. At the time, the incidence was something like 1 in 5,000. Thirteen years later, it's now 1 in 166 children diagnosed. At the rate we're going, it'll be 1 in 50 in no time.
In 1998, the Marcus Institute merged with the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland. Although we have done some amazing work, and treated thousands of children, there is so much more work to be done. The numbers are staggering - each child with autism requires an enormous amount of one-on-one time with a qualified professional, sometimes with three. Without treatment, these children do not get better. And then what? What happens to the children who don't get treatment? What happens to them when they become adults? Autistic individuals do not die from this disease. They have a normal lifespan. And without effective early intervention, they continue to require intensive treatment and therapy for their whole lives, much more than the average family can afford, or can handle. And many insurance companies don't even pay for it. There are not enough qualified professionals out there to offer these services anyway.
So far, there has been no concerted push, no coordinated efforts to find answers, like there has been with leukemia or breast cancer or AIDS. In order to have this same impact, we realized that we would need to raise millions of dollars. We would need a national campaign to raise money and to raise awareness.
We have been looking for a champion for this cause for a number of years. Suzanne and Bob Wright are the right people. They have so much passion. The want to find the answers for their grandson, and they want to find the answers for the millions of children and families who are suffering from autism. I approached them with the idea of funding a national campaign and I offered our services. We are going to go where no one's been before. Bob has a great business mind. The key is to make investments and get results. This is what we're going to do. We can't get new thinking into this field without the money to back it up. And so far what we are missing is money.
I'm anxious to get involved. And not just with financing. I want to see this solved in my lifetime. People have to understand something: this disease goes on forever. It's getting out of hand. The key is to find the answers. I'm going to see it through.
Click here to donate to Autism Speaks.
In 1991, my wife, Billi, and I established the Marcus Institute, which provides programs for children and adolescents with disorders of the brain and their families. At the time, I had an employee who had a child with a brain disorder. Seeing what she went through on a daily basis, how difficult it was for her to find treatment and services for her child, inspired me to create a program to help families with children suffering from brain disorders. At the time, there was no such program in Georgia, or, for that matter, the entire southeast. Since we began, we've served more than 22,000 children. At the time, the incidence was something like 1 in 5,000. Thirteen years later, it's now 1 in 166 children diagnosed. At the rate we're going, it'll be 1 in 50 in no time.
In 1998, the Marcus Institute merged with the Kennedy Krieger Institute in Maryland. Although we have done some amazing work, and treated thousands of children, there is so much more work to be done. The numbers are staggering - each child with autism requires an enormous amount of one-on-one time with a qualified professional, sometimes with three. Without treatment, these children do not get better. And then what? What happens to the children who don't get treatment? What happens to them when they become adults? Autistic individuals do not die from this disease. They have a normal lifespan. And without effective early intervention, they continue to require intensive treatment and therapy for their whole lives, much more than the average family can afford, or can handle. And many insurance companies don't even pay for it. There are not enough qualified professionals out there to offer these services anyway.
So far, there has been no concerted push, no coordinated efforts to find answers, like there has been with leukemia or breast cancer or AIDS. In order to have this same impact, we realized that we would need to raise millions of dollars. We would need a national campaign to raise money and to raise awareness.
We have been looking for a champion for this cause for a number of years. Suzanne and Bob Wright are the right people. They have so much passion. The want to find the answers for their grandson, and they want to find the answers for the millions of children and families who are suffering from autism. I approached them with the idea of funding a national campaign and I offered our services. We are going to go where no one's been before. Bob has a great business mind. The key is to make investments and get results. This is what we're going to do. We can't get new thinking into this field without the money to back it up. And so far what we are missing is money.
I'm anxious to get involved. And not just with financing. I want to see this solved in my lifetime. People have to understand something: this disease goes on forever. It's getting out of hand. The key is to find the answers. I'm going to see it through.
Click here to donate to Autism Speaks.
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