Foundation Supports Spinal Cord Injury Research
by Matt Ehrhorn
Throughout his successful career in real estate development, construction and gaming, Ameristar Chairman and CEO Craig Neilsen has devoted a significant portion of his time and wealth to philanthropic causes, particularly the research and treatment of spinal cord injuries (SCI).
Neilson considers this support critical in light of severe government cutbacks in the area of SCI research. In 2003, he founded The Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, a private Nevada-based organization established to support research in finding a cure for SCI and to fund innovative rehabilitation programs throughout the United States for people living with SCI. Neilsen suffered a spinal cord injury from a car accident in 1985, and although the injury considerably altered his lifestyle, it only served to increase his entrepreneurial drive and charitable spirit.
The Foundation currently is funding five major research projects at institutions across the country, including the Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School, that focus on spinal cord repair and regeneration. Funding at other institutions includes everything from helping the Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City expand its recreational program for SCI patients to paying for a new wheelchair-accessible van for SSM Rehab in St. Louis.
“There is a tremendous need out there for very basic items,” says Neilsen. The Foundation works with organizations to “help provide people with some of the necessities to achieve the quality of life they deserve.”
According to Foundation Director Beth Goldsmith, “Some people can’t even afford a wheelchair,” and others are forced to move into nursing homes because they don’t have the money to modify their own homes. “Craig has virtually given people the opportunity to go on with their lives.”
Neilsen works regularly on the Foundation’s board with Goldsmith; Neilsen’s son, Ray; and two other colleagues, Gordon Kanofsky and Connie Wilson Hill, to review applications for grants from institutions across the country. The Foundation works with other nonprofit groups and is in the process of establishing a scientific review board to determine which grants are most worthy of pursuing.
In addition, the Foundation matches donations made to designated rehabilitation facilities through the Ameristar Cares Annual Workplace Giving Campaign, part of the Ameristar Cares charitable giving program also established by Neilsen. The campaign raised more than $1.5 million in 2004 and hopes to raise more than $2 million this year.
The Ameristar golf team won the inaugural Ingram’s CEOpen in June, and with it earned the $12,500 donation to its charity of choice. Choosing the Rehabilitation Institute of Kansas City, the team saw its prize money matched by the organization’s corporate giving program.
On October 11, the Neilsen Foundation and Ameristar Casinos, Inc. will sponsor the 2005 National Charity Golf Classic at Tiffany Greens Golf Club in Kansas City. The tournament has raised approximately $750,000 so far for the Buoniconti Fund, the national fundraising branch of the Miami Project to Cure Paralysis. At Neilsen’s request, the money will be used to support two of the Miami Project’s current research endeavors: a spinal cord regeneration project seeking FDA approval and a project to increase muscle mass and improve cardiovascular functions for people with SCI.
In addition to SCI, The Craig H. Neilsen Foundation is a supporter of cancer research and is one of the founding sponsors of the first comprehensive cancer research institute in Nevada. The Foundation also works with various children’s organizations and activities, such as the Boys and Girls Club in Buhl, Idaho, and Andre Agassi’s Charitable Foundation for at-risk and underprivileged children in the Las Vegas community.
Of all of its physical and financial accomplishments in its short two-year existence, the Foundation’s greatest success has occurred on a less tangible, but much broader, scale. According to Neilsen, “We feel we have played a meaningful role in the effort to get many of the SCI facilities working together.” Neilsen feels that this growing collaboration of institutions across the country has been invaluable in making grants and unifying goals in the research and rehabilitation procedures of spinal cord injuries.
For more information about The Craig H. Neilsen Foundation, go to http://chnfoundation.org.