Jill - I attended my very first Concours d’Elegance 3 years ago and after that I was hooked. I knew I had to be involved in the Foundation in some capacity. I originally attended the Concours because of April Samaras, my husband, Shawn, and the relationship Northwestern Mutual has with the Morgan Adams Foundation. April is the reason that Northwestern Mutual and Shawn, a financial representative for Northwestern, got involved with Morgan Adams. April lost her daughter Ariana when she was only four years old, I, unfortunately, did not know Ani, but her mom April touched me in a way few people can. So, April and her story got me to attend my very first Concours, but what really captivated me was a little girl named Gabrielle.

I met Gabrielle for the first time that evening. She was walking around the event so full of life with a contagious smile on her face; I had no idea that she had been diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of two. When I realized that she was auctioning off one of the live auction items I turned to my husband and said, “we are going to win this trip”, we won the trip and I was enthralled.

I met Joan Slaughter (founder of the Morgan Adams Foundation) for the first time at an auction committee meeting for MAF. What an amazing woman! Shawn invited me to tag along to the meeting. He had served on the auction committee the year before. He knew full well that I would dive in head first. God always seems to put you in the right place at the right time. Thank you Shawn for inviting me that night and thank you God for bringing April, Gabrielle, Joan & Steven and the rest of the MAF crew into my life.

Shawn & I plan on being involved with Morgan Adams for as long as they will have us. It is amazing that in life we have opportunities to be a part of something bigger than ourselves if we so choose; we chose to be a part of the Morgan Adams Foundation and it has forever changed us.

Cindi - My family and I attended artma 2004 and met Joan Slaughter, MAF’s Executive Director.  At the time, our son Marc was under the care of Dr. Nick Foreman at the Children’s Hospital.  Two weeks later, we lost Marc to a recurring brain tumor.  I felt the need to become involved with the Morgan Adams Foundation and am proud to be helping to raise money for pediatric cancers.  Volunteering for MAF is and has been very rewarding.  Knowing that whatever task I do, will be of importance in furthering pediatric cancer research.  Marc would say, “If the medicine will not help me, maybe it will help someone else.”

John - As a youngster, I volunteered for school, church and the scouts, all of which helped to set pattern for the rest of my life.  I have volunteered for many organizations since my retirement, something that helps me to stay “young”.  As I look back to the first artma that the Morgan Adams Foundation hosted, little did I imagine that one day I would be their volunteer accountant, but here I am doing just that eight years later.  It was during the setup of artma 2004 that I first met Steven Adams and Joan Slaughter, Founders of the Morgan Adams Foundation.  It was then that I asked Joan if she could use some help at the Foundation and mentioned that I was particularly interested in helping with the bookkeeping, an inquiry that marks the beginning of my journey with the Morgan Adams Foundation.  Since then I have learned a lot about cancer and today I even have a little friend who as of this date has survived cancer.  For six months of 2008 KJ and I have been BHB, bald headed buddies.