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Publisher Steve Geppi receives NephCure Service Award at Countdown To A Cure – Baltimore

BALTIMORE, MD – Steve Geppi, publisher of Baltimore Magazine, saluted nine year-old Lindsey Duquette and others suffering from chronic diseases while receiving The NephCure Foundation 2011 Public Service Award Sunday night at the Countdown To A Cure – Baltimore fundraising dinner at the Pier 5 Hotel.

The charity affair, attended by 170 people, was the culmination of a series of events encompassing “NephCure Day” in the City of Baltimore, as designated by Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.  The activities launched with a walk headquartered at Sliders Bar and Grill, during which Deputy Director Kevin Cleary from the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods presented the “NephCure Day” Proclamation.

NephCure walkers then attended the Camden Yards Major League Baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Texas Rangers before converging at the Pier 5 Hotel for the dinner, which featured a host of former Orioles players, including Jim Palmer, Rick Dempsey, Mike Flanagan, Boog Powell, B.J. Surhoff and Bill Swaggerty.  The dinner was hosted by Orioles broadcast team Fred Manfra and Tom Davis, who entertained the audience with a players’ question and answer period at the end of the night.

The dinner was co-chaired by former Orioles general manager Jim Duquette, whose daughter, Lindsey, has been suffering from the kidney disease FSGS for the past six years, and Warren Sollod.  Duquette expressed his appreciation to all the players for appearing at the event and brought Lindsey to the podium for a special thanks to all attendees as the foundation raised money for medical research in the continuing effort to find a cure.

“It’s an honor to be here tonight with the Duquette family and others,” said Geppi, following a moving video about NephCure and the patient familes, doctors and researchers who pursue its mission.  “Events like this bring awareness and the money needed for research and it’s great to see all this support here in Baltimore.”

The program also included NephCure Foundation Executive Director Henry Brehm, who talked about the organization’s mission and importance of extending its efforts to a major market like Baltimore, hosting its first Countdown To A Cure.