FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Charlie Brush, 802-864-9899 or cbrush@kellybrushfoundation.org

KELLY BRUSH FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

BURLINGTON, Vermont (March 11, 2009) – Kelly Brush Foundation President Charlie Brush announced the hiring of Betsy Cabrera as executive director of the growing non-profit. Cabrera is the three-year-old non-profit’s first executive director.

“The foundation has grown to a point where we needed to add a professional like Betsy to our team,” said Charlie Brush, founder and chairman of The Kelly Brush Foundation board of directors. “We feel very fortunate to have found someone of Betsy’s caliber with experience in leadership roles in major non-profits in Vermont. She will definitely help us take The Kelly Brush Foundation to the next level.”

Cabrera brings an extensive background in managing non-profits and organizing events. Prior to joining The Kelly Brush Foundation, she was director of operations for the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, the state’s largest such business organization, and executive director of Leadership Champlain, a community leadership development program based in Burlington.

Cabrera is a graduate of the University of Vermont.

In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of The Kelly Brush Foundation, Cabrera’s duties include managing the foundation’s annual fundraiser, The Kelly Brush Century Ride, a 100-mile bicycle ride that starts and ends in Middlebury, Vt. Last year, in just its second year open to the public, the ride drew 336 cyclists and raised $135,000. This year the Century Ride is scheduled for September 12.
About the foundation: The Kelly Brush Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c) 3 organization dedicated to  improving ski racing safety, enhancing the quality of life for those with spinal cord injury (SCI) through providing adaptive sports equipment, advancing scientific research on SCI and supporting the U.S. Disabled Ski Team.  Kelly Brush, together with her family and friends, started the foundation in 2006 after she sustained a spinal cord injury while racing in NCAA Div. 1 competition as a member of the Middlebury College Ski Team in Vermont. That injury left Kelly paralyzed from the chest down. The Kelly Brush Foundation affirms Kelly’s ongoing commitment to live life to the fullest on her own terms and better the lives of others living with SCI.

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