THE GEORGE PEREZ ART APPRECIATION GALLERY TO DONATE TO THE AMERICAN
DIABETES ASSOCIATION AND JUVENILE DIABETES FOUNDATION CANADA
Shane Elliott, owner of the George Perez Art Appreciation Gallery, has
announced a goal of $5,000 to be donated to the American Diabetes
Association and the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation of Canada by the end of
2001.
Elliott is digging into his own collection of over 20,000 comic books
and original comic art to help out in this endeavor. "Whenever someone
purchases some comics from me and one of the issues was in some manner
done by George Perez, then 10% of the total purchase will be set aside
to be donated to one of these two charities."
Comic book creator George Perez is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and
has recently left his successful work on Marvel Comics 'The Avengers'
due to poor health. "George Perez has given me so much pleasure out of
his work in my nearly twenty years of collecting and reading comic books
that I felt I wanted to give something back and prove it worthy,"
Elliott said. "George is well known amongst comic fans for donating his
time and effort to various charities, it's about time someone else did
it on his behalf."
Perez isn't the only person in Shane Elliott's life affected by this
disease, "My father is a Type 2 diabetic and I've seen the effect it's
had on his life. One of my best friends has Type 1 diabetes as well."
According to the American Diabetes Association, diabetes is a chronic
disease in which the body does not produce or properly respond to
insulin, an essential hormone needed to convert sugar, starches, and
other foods into energy for daily life.
There are two types of diabetes. In type 1, the body produces very
little or no insulin, and the onset of the disease typically occurs in
childhood or early adulthood. People with type 1 diabetes must take
daily insulin injections to stay alive. In type 2, the body does not
produce enough insulin, or cannot properly utilize this essential
hormone. Type 2 is the most common form of the disease, accounting for
90-95% of all cases, and often emerges later in life. Diabetes is
growing in epidemic proportions. In 1997, more than 180,000 Americans
died from complications associated with diabetes.
In the fight against diabetes, the stakes are very high. Consider: at
least one-third of the 16 million Americans who suffer from diabetes do
not know that they have the disease; often the occurrence of one of its
life-threatening complications - blindness, kidney failure, amputations,
heart disease; and stroke - leads to the diagnosis.
To defeat this silent killer, the American Diabetes Association is fully
committed to taking the lead on all fronts by marshaling the talent,
tool, and resources needed to make this mission a reality.
The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation's mission is to find a cure for
diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Since
its inception, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation has provided more money to
diabetes research than any other not-for-profit, non-governmental health
agency in the world.
"I've received some pieces of original comic art from various creators
and will be auctioning them off on eBay with all the money going to
these wonderful charities," Elliott added. One of the favorites of his
collection is a self-portrait of George Perez, drawn in 1978, which will
be auctioned off as well. The George Perez Art Appreciation Gallery,
started in July 2000, currently receives nearly 400 visitors a month and
has close to 800 samples of Perez's work in the comic industry.
Other specials to coincide with this project will be announced through
the mailing list found on the site.
If you would like to participate in this project, The George Perez Art
Appreciation Gallery can be found at:
http://members.nbci.com/gothamcomics/gpz.htm (updated link 011225: perezgallery.crosswinds.net)