The Charles Lafitte Foundation, Jeffrey and Suzanne Citron’s philanthropic organization, continues to expand its children’s advocacy efforts, recently contributing to the University of Washington Autism Center and the Ranney School, located in Eatontown, New Jersey.
“Children’s advocacy and education are issues central to our mission, and the Charles Lafitte Foundation strives to support the efforts of organizations that share our same goals,” said Jeffrey Citron, co-founder, board member, Charles Lafitte Foundation. “Both the University of Washington Autism Center and the Ranney School do tremendous work on behalf of our youth and we are honored to help them continue in their important work.”
The Charles Lafitte Foundation is giving $60,000 to the University of Washington Autism Center to assist children in need who cannot afford treatment. Insurance plans generally do not cover services for autistic children, forcing parents to cover the costs, averaging $35,000 -45,000 per year for therapy and consultation, out of pocket.
The University of Washington Autism Center focuses on providing state-of-the-art clinical services, and increasing knowledge and awareness of autism in the professional community and general public. The Center also offers diagnostic evaluations and multi-disciplinary intervention services for children with autism spectrum disorders from infancy through adolescence.
Collaborative research efforts are also central to the Center where a network of several scientists from different disciplines is working collaboratively to discover the cause of autism, and develop effective treatments. The research efforts are a part of a larger network of research programs in the United States funded by the National Institute of Health.
“The Charles Lafitte Foundations’ generosity will allow us to help autistic children who might otherwise remain untreated for financial reasons,” said Dr. Geraldine Dawson, director, Autism Center. “Charitable contributions like the one from CLF are vital to running the Center, and continuing our important research and treatment efforts.”
The Ranney School, an independent college preparatory school, will use CLF’s $52,210 donation to purchase three automated external defibrillators for the school’s newly opened Health Office. Committed to keeping its community safe and healthy, Ranney School maintains an extensive Health Services Program, providing full time nursing support for students. The new Health Office is equipped with a communication system that connects the nursing staff with the entire campus, a computer system that provides nurses with immediate access to student medical records, and separate sick bays for boys and girls.
“The Health Office, complete with the new defibrillators, is vital for maintaining a level of readiness in case of a student or staff emergency within the Ranney community,” said Lawrence S. Sykoff, Ed.D, Head of School, Ranney School. “Generous gifts like this one from the Citrons and the Charles Lafitte Foundation are key to our ability to create a safe and healthy environment for our students.”
About The Charles Lafitte Foundation:
The Charles Lafitte Foundation is a private philanthropic organization founded by Suzanne and Jeffrey Citron. A multifaceted, multi-purposed organization comprised of four distinct project areas, CLF strives to affect innovative change in the areas of education, children’s advocacy, medical research and the arts. Contributions range from single donations to on-going project funding and volunteer work. Grant proposals may be submitted via the organization’s web site, www.charleslafitte.org. Preference is given to proposals and programs that foster significant change for many individuals.
About Jeffrey Citron:
Jeffrey Citron is a technology pioneer and visionary who transformed the financial services industry. As Chairman and CEO of Vonage, Mr. Citron aims to redefine yet another industry — telecommunications.
Some of the more revolutionary financial services developments over the past decade were spearheaded by Mr. Citron. In 1995, Mr. Citron founded The Island ECN, a computerized trading system designed to eliminate the problems associated with order execution. The Island ECN recently was acquired by Instinet Group for 503 million dollars. Today the newly merged company is one of the largest global financial exchanges, and is responsible for more than one in four NASDAQ trades.
Following on the success of The Island ECN, Mr. Citron founded and became the Chairman and CEO of Datek Online Holdings Corp. as Datek transitioned into the online brokerage industry. Under his leadership, Datek had grown to become the fourth largest online brokerage in the US, and was recently acquired by Ameritrade Holdings for 1.3 billion dollars. The newly merged company with nearly 3 million customers is now the second largest online financial services firm behind the Charles Schwab Company. Mr. Citron departed Datek in 1999 and, recognizing a similar opportunity, founded Vonage.
Apart from his entrepreneurial activities, Mr. Citron is continually pursuing philanthropic initiatives. He currently serves on the board of the Montclair Art Museum and through his family foundation routinely funds medical research, supports the Arts and dedicates his time and resources to children’s charities.
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For more information, contact:
Ruder Finn
212.715.1694
woodsa@ruderfinn.com
Jennifer Vertetis
Charles Lafitte Foundation
Contact Jennifer here