“Whoever you are, I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”
Blanche DuBois may as well have delivered this as a tagline for every charitable organization in the world. When Blanche uttered this line, from Tennessee Williams’s play A Streetcar Named Desire, it was for very different reasons and with very different consequences.
However, the reliance of charities on kind strangers is well-established. People who have
- seen their homes destroyed by natural disasters,
- people who have lost their jobs,
- people who have rare diseases that don’t garner the same kind of funding that other, more glamorous diseases get
—these people rely on kind-hearted strangers to give of themselves to help a fellow human being.
Exactly such an event took place on March 11th of this year for the Fight for Sight charity. The campaign works to help fund research into inherited conditions that affect people’s ability to see, such as Stargardt disease.
Stargardt disease is a rare, inherited disorder that affects the light-sensitive sections of the eye.
Most individuals are diagnosed with this disease when they notice a distinct reduction in visual acuity during childhood. However, some people do not display symptoms until they are adults. There are no treatments for this disease, but with enough funding, it is possible that one may be developed.
The fundraising ball was held at The Runnymede Hotel in London to raise awareness and money for research into this sight-robbing disease. Organizers of the event, as well as attendees, are hopeful that with enough time and money, a cure can be found.
Guests paid nearly $100 to attend and were entertained by Jamie Raven, a contestant from Britain’s Got Talent, and singers from London’s theater district, The Patriot Girls.
Click here to read about the event and one young lady stricken with this disease.
