SYLACAUGA, Ala. – The Sylacauga Freelancers, a group of junior and senior girls from Sylacauga High School, donated an undisclosed sum of money to RhizoKids International founder Tracey Thomas on Wednesday afternoon.
Rhizokids International is a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization that was formed to raise money for research for Rhizomelic Chondrodysplasia Punctata (RCDP). RCDP is a genetic disorder that is a fatal form of dwarfism. It is rare, affecting fewer than 100 children worldwide. Currently, there is no treatment and no cure for RCDP. In 2008, Rhizokids International was founded by Sylacauga’s Tracey Thomas and Mary Ellis, two mothers, whose sons, Jackson and Ian, were both born in 2007 with RCDP just five weeks apart in the same Alabama hospital. Being the only two children at that time in Alabama with RCDP, Thomas and Ellis decided to form an organization that would raise money to go toward research for a cure for their children.
The donation is a portion of the proceeds from the Freelancers’ annual Stardust dance in December. Each year half of the proceeds go directly to an organization locally in Sylacauga, and the other half goes towards senior scholarships.
The donation will be used to fly a team of doctors from around the world to Sylacauga to research RCDP.
“It becomes easier when you have got girls who care and want to work hard and these girls really do care and want to see their work shine in the community,” said Freelancers sponsor Leslie Lucas. Lucas, a former Freelancer, is in her 4th year as a sponsor.
On Saturday at 10:30 a.m. the Sylacauga Freelancers will be presenting another check to the Sylacauga Animal Shelter.
