Meet Our Donors

As a teenager, Kevin A. Barnes expected his life to consist of ongoing bouts of excruciating pain, severe weight loss and periods of missed school, interrupted every two-to-three years by major abdominal surgery. Kevin was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in 1975, at the age of twelve. Following that diagnosis every aspect of his life was impacted by Crohn’s. Yet today, Kevin is a successful professional, married for 18 years and active with the Wisconsin Chapter of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. Since 1990, Kevin has been a member of the Founders Society, a group of individuals who include a provision in their will or estate plans to benefit CCFA.

Stephen Blank is a former National Board President of the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation. He presently serves as a Board Member for the New Jersey Chapter, the successor to the Bergen County Chapter he and his wife Marsha, who suffers from Crohn's disease, helped organize in the mid-1970s. The couple has two daughters, Cheryl and Lisa, both of whom were diagnosed with Crohn's disease in their pre-teenage years. Stephen is a member of the Founders Society, a group of individuals who include a provision in their will or estate plans to benefit CCFA. He has made the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation the beneficiary of a life insurance policy and feels that planned giving is vital for the organization's future. "These gifts allow us to create capital in the future which means CCFA can accelerate its activities today."