Coco Cares

Community Involvement

Being a part of a community means more than living and working there. It also means making a contribution to the social fabric of the community and supporting the individuals and institutions that make it strong. Throughout my career, I have contributed a portion of every sale to organizations and charities whose values I share. These causes work tirelessly to better the lives of children, the homeless, the abused, the impaired, animals and many other deserving groups.

But ultimately, the cause that continues to be the most compelling to me—the one I find myself drawn back to year after year—is brain research. Because it touches on the lives of people of all ages, because the brain controls everything we do and if it is not working properly we as humans do not work properly, because I feel such compassion for those who are damaged—by birth, by accident, or by disease—I support the UCLA Brain Research Institute.

The Brain Research Institute, which began at UCLA more than 40 years ago, encompasses more than 250 faculty members in 26 departments across five schools. To quote from BRI’s website, “The BRI’s overarching goal—and its major achievement—has been to foster and improve multidisciplinary collaborations. This work has increasingly permitted the identification of pathogenic mechanisms and the formulation of new therapeutic approaches. Among the research areas that exemplify such translational collaborations are Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, neurofibromatosis, stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder….BRI members’ investigations span the genetic, molecular, cellular, systems, and behavioral levels. Members study the normal structure and workings of the nervous system, its development, its cognitive functions, its derangement by disease and injury, and the means of its repair and protection.”

I am proud to be able to help this important cause and invite you to learn more about the UCLA Brain Research Institute at www.bri.ucla.edu. Click here for a BRI Snapshot