December 5, 2013 — The Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) presented their 2013 Media Partner of the Year Award to Mike Barbaro and Clear Channel Outdoor on Thursday, November 21, 2013.
Barbaro and Clear Channel Outdoor utilized their resources to provide FARA with a dynamic out-of-home media platform to raise the profile of Friedreich’s Ataxia and encourage involvement by providing multiple digital billboards in seven key cities, including: Tampa, Orlando, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dallas, Portland and Sacramento.
“Clear Channel Outdoor, and Mike Barbaro, vice president, sales, Clear Channel Outdoor, in particular, are distinctive community leaders, said Jennifer Farmer, executive director, FARA. “Time and again, they demonstrate exceptional community support through their outstanding generosity. Their support of FARA mission’s through Friedreich’s Ataxia awareness is commendable.”
Their donation of out-of-home media encouraged FARA awareness and promoted participation in fundraising events in a method that complemented print and TV media. This fantastic opportunity enabled FARA to advance promotion of Ride Ataxia city locations, as well as the Energy Ball, FARA’s major fundraising events.
“Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) is a rare disease affecting 5,000 people in the US so when our patient families realize this cause is important enough to be on a billboard it builds huge excitement in our community and more people get involved in our fundraisers and clinical trials for potential treatments. Involvement in clinical trials is a huge deal because these trials will fail without patient involvement.” says Kyle Bryant, Ambassador for FARA who also has FA.
FARA Partner of the Year Selection Criteria
- Leadership and/or employees/constituents within the partner organization directly support FARA’s mission and demonstrate a commitment to curing FA faster than thought possible(e.g., fundraising, in-kind contributions, professional services, etc.)
- Organizational culture that values community, helping others and volunteerism
- Commitment to increasing awareness of Friedreich’s ataxia or FARA
About FARA
The Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA) is a national, public, 501©(3), non-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to curing Friedreich’s ataxia (FA) through research. FARA grants and activities provide support for basic and translational FA research, pharmaceutical/ biotech drug development, clinical trials, and scientific conferences. FARA also serves as a catalyst, between the public and scientific community, to create worldwide exchanges of information that drive medical advances.
