How You Can Help
A Grandfather Remembered
February 2007
For Houston brothers Ryan and Kevin Steinhart, their bar mitzvah ceremonies marked more than their coming of age in their faith. The celebrations also gave the teenagers an opportunity to honor their late grandfather in a very special way. They each donated a percentage of their monetary bar mitzvah gifts to the research fund named for him at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Together, their donations to the Charles Rogers Memorial Fund for Gene Therapy Research have totaled $1,400.
“I think it’s wonderful that they would do this in memory of their grandfather,” says their proud grandmother, Donna Rogers. Donna established the research fund in 2000, after the death of her husband Charles, who had been a patient at M. D. Anderson and a participant in gene therapy research. Memorial gifts helped launch the fund, and Donna and other family members have continued to contribute to it.
“When we found out that Charles had lung cancer, we came to M. D. Anderson immediately,” says Donna, who made the trip with her husband from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, where she still lives. “We were so impressed with the way we were treated. You’re not a number at M. D. Anderson; you’re an individual. Charles appreciated that and always said that if we had money to give, this is where we should give it.”
Kevin, a 13-year-old student at Pershing Middle School, celebrated his bar mitzvah this past December. A freshman at Episcopal High School, 15-year-old Ryan reached the milestone in 2004. Both boys have fond memories of their grandfather, who continues to inspire them. Like him, they are big fans of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks football team. And they also share his belief in giving to help others.