The Simon Foundation for Continence
Promoting Continence...Changing Lives

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For Immediate Release: August 6, 2004

The Simon Foundation Selected by the New Freedom Foundation as a
Semi-Finalist for the 2004 Best New Ability Organization Award

The Simon Foundation for Continence, a not for profit organization dedicated to helping people with incontinence, was recently honored by the New Freedom Foundation at their New Ability Awards Gala.  The Simon Foundation was selected as a semi-finalist "for the organization whose work is deemed to be most extraordinary towards helping people with disabilities."  The New Ability Awards Gala is a formal awards ceremony to properly acknowledge those individuals and organizations that help to bring focus on ability rather than disability.

"This event brings together government leaders, corporate America, philanthropists, and those organizations who work directly to support people with disabilities into one arena with a common mission...to celebrate the achievements of the New Ability Industry and to directly encourage improvements in the lives of people who have a disability," stated John Chmela, co-founder of the New Freedom Foundation.

Bill Smith, co-founder of the New Freedom Foundation, added: "When you submit a resume to a potential employer, you don't tell them that you don't drive, that you don't know how to cook and you speak only one language...you focus on what you can do.  Tonight we are here to focus on the ability, not the disability."

In addition to the Simon Foundation for Continence, other organizations nominated in this category included: The Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis - a major supporter of the Miami Project; Crotched Mountain Foundation - who has provided rehabilitation services for thousands of people with disabilities; The Marriott Foundation – whose mission is to enhance employment opportunities for people with disabilities; and Sorenson Media- creators of the first easy-to-use videophone for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.

"It is an honor to be recognized in this manner," said Cheryle B. Gartley, Simon Foundation's President and Founder.  "Millions of Americans find incontinence a disabling health problem which lessens their quality of life."

The 2004 Gala was held July 30th in the Grand Ballroom at Chicago's Navy Pier.  Award presenters included several nationally recognized individuals such as Heather Whiteston McCallum, Miss America 1995; Bob Love, NBA basketball star; Kathleen Quinlan, actress and Oscar nominee, and Kim Peek, the real Rain Man on whom the film was based. 

The Simon Foundation for Continence has been a supporter of the New Freedom Foundation since its inception.  At the 2003 Awards Gala the Simon Foundation's Anti-Stigma in Healthcare Campaign was introduced, and the Anti-Stigma theme song, "I Am More" was performed by three-time Emmy Award winning vocal artist Gaia Tossing.

"I hope that the entire incontinence industry becomes involved with the New Freedom Foundation's New Ability Awards," Gartley said.  "Over the last two decades, doctors, nurses, physical therapists, researchers, and dedicated individuals in industry have designed innovative incontinence solutions which have made enormous contributions to new freedoms for people with incontinence.  There are so many deserving individuals and companies in the incontinence arena who should be recognized in this way, for they have truly changed peoples’ lives."