Jackpot!! Donor Sends Stuttering Foundation 200 Mega Millions Lottery Tickets

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (December 13, 2013) — To show appreciation for the services it provides, an anonymous donor sent the Stuttering Foundation (www.StutteringHelp.org) 200 Mega Millions lottery tickets for the drawing scheduled for tonight. Lottery official estimate the potential winnings at more than $425 million.

“It only takes one good set of numbers,” said Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation. “We are always thankful for contributions of any size and shape, but this one has us very excited to tune into the drawing.”

Fraser was reminded of the organization’s early days, when her father started the Foundation with a modest deposit at the local bank.

“Malcolm Fraser deposited $2,500 more than six decades ago and today we help people in more than 130 countries around the world. More than two million people visited our website this year alone. I can’t imagine how many people we could help were we to win even a modest prize! It would be a delightful problem to have,” added Fraser.

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CELEBRITY FOCUS

Bruce Willis

While the world knows Bruce Willis as an A-list actor, few know that he struggled with stuttering throughout his first 20 years.

Walter Bruce Willis was born in 1955 in West Germany to his German mother, Marlene, and his American GI father, David Willis. The family settled in David’s hometown of Penns Grove, New Jersey in 1957, and the couple has three other children.

Bill Walton

From BillWalton.com

Thank you for your interest in my life long problem with my speech and communication skills. I was a very shy and reserved young man who could not speak at all without severely stuttering until I was 28 years old. Always a success in the classroom and on the basketball court, I took refuge in the things that I did well as a youngster. A straight A student, my athletic abilities covered the deficiencies that limited my overall growth and development. The game of basketball was my religion, the gym my church. It was a convenient way of avoiding my responsibilities of developing my human relation skills.

When I was 28, a chance encounter at a social event with Hall of Fame broadcaster Marty Glickman completely changed my life in so many ways that things have never been the same since, nor have they ever been better. That day, in a very brief, private conversation (one way, mind you, since I literally could not speak at the time) Marty explained, patiently and concisely, that talking, communicating was a skill not a gift or a birthright and that like any skill, whether it be sports, music, business or whatever, needed to be developed over a lifetime of hard work, discipline, organization and practice. Marty gave me some simple tips that day and then encouraged me to take those keys and apply them to methods of learning that I had received from the special teachers that I had come across in my life, particularly the 6 Hall of Fame basketball coaches that I had played for throughout my career. The beginning of my whole new life was as simple as that. No gimmicks, tricks or shortcuts. Just the realization that with some help, guidance and a lot of hard work that I too could do what seemed so easy, simple and natural to everyone else, yet seemed impossibly out of my reach and comprehension.

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Recent news reports that quote Dr. John Mather, a Washington physician, as saying that Churchill's stutter "is a lie" brought adamant critical response from specialists in the field of stuttering and fluency disorders.

Mel Tillis

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