The Gunther family
GK VISUAL
933 Rose St., Harrisburg
Gkvisual.com
Why do you feel it’s important for your business to support our area’s nonprofits?
GK Visual was founded in 2005 and, from the start, we have made it a priority to give back to our community. We don’t always have the funds to support every cause, but we do have a talented team that has a heart for helping others. We’ve grown both personally and as a company by championing the work of these nonprofits and charities. Telling these incredible stories through video, interviews, photography and images is what we love to do.
Why do you support this particular nonprofit and what does your business do to benefit the organization?
We came to know Wishes for Drew and the Gunther family through our mutual love for craft beer. Steve Gunther reached out to us after seeing our work with our video series, “Poured in PA,” and asked if we would be able to help his family tell the story of their courageous son, Drew. We’ve been very fortunate to work with the Gunthers and learn about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. This fatal, genetic muscle-wasting condition has no known cure, and treatments are incredibly expensive. We admire this family’s determination and love for Drew and other children impacted by DMD. We wish we could do more, but what we have been able to do is tell their story through videos, including “Poured in PA,” and connect them with other friends in the community. We consider it such an honor to know them and call them friends.
Drew Gunther
Wishes for Drew
wishesfordrew.org
Describe your organization and the importance of corporate or foundation support to further your mission.
The importance of corporate or foundational support cannot be overstated. Many of our events to raise awareness and support depend heavily on businesses and corporations willing to get behind us as sponsors, just to ensure an event can even be held in the first place. We have been blessed with support from many local companies and businesses, and they are truly the foundation upon which most nonprofits and charities are built and enable us to benefit others.
GK Visual has been such a critically important sponsor and supporter of Wishes for Drew. From the first time I emailed them with a request for a project we needed done, they have been integral to what we do. From producing video for us, showing up at our events, giving advice on media needs, GK team members taking part in events, and through the constant follow-up and sponsorship support over the last couple of years, GK truly shows what a company giving back looks like.
For 2023, what is your greatest need for corporate or foundation support?
2023 is going to be absolutely vital to us as a nonprofit. We are finally starting to get momentum behind us, and our feet under us, as we started at the beginning of COVID and are not experts in how to run a nonprofit. We’re just concerned parents doing our best. In 2023, we hope to expand enough to allow us to benefit and offer assistance to many additional families and charities battling the disease, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. To date, we have successfully implemented a treatment regimen/proof of concept treatment program that benefitted Drew and 20 other children from around the globe. This disease has no cure and is rare, yet so many children are impacted. About one out of every 3,500 males born will have this fatal, genetic muscle-wasting condition. Without the ability to spread awareness of this disease, people won’t know that there is a need, and without supporting families and other nonprofits in this sector, many families will go without necessary support, resources and mobility devices. Without our corporate or foundational support, we can’t provide such needed assistance to the community.
Other info: Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy typically affects 1 out of every 3,500 boys born around the world, regardless of national origin or race. It makes the body unable to create new muscle, and the muscle breaks down as a result. A child goes from slowly acquiring abilities to slowly or rapidly losing them. It’s basically the “Benjamin Button” disease without the outward aging. Most children with DMD pass away in their late teenage years or as very young adults. Wishes for Drew was established after our 7-year-old son was diagnosed with DMD on Valentine’s Day of 2019, completely unexpectedly. He has already lost the ability to walk or support himself standing at all and is rapidly losing upper body strength. Most boys pass away from cardiac or breathing issues.
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