SRF Receives the Victory of Spirit Award

The Survivors Rehabilitation Foundation (SRF) was founded in 1985 by Ray Willenberg Jr., Chairman/President of SRF. Ray's sister Renee, suffered a severe head injury at the age of twenty-three that left her in a coma for almost three months. After receiving nine months of inpatient rehabilitation, Renee was referred to the Sharp Brain Injury Re-Entry Program. Ray and his family were faced with the reality that it would be difficult to afford continued rehabilitation services. At that time, insurance carriers typically did not fund innovative programs such as the Community Re-Entry Program. Driven by his determination to insure that his sister received the highest quality care available, Ray organized a benefit golf tournament to help defray the expense. Realizing that Renee's experience was not unique, Ray created the San Diego Survivors Rehabilitation Foundation to enable other brain injury survivors to participate in the Community Re-Entry Program.

In December of 1986, Allison deRose, daughter of Susan and Robert deRose, had a head injury caused by a car accident. After recovering from a coma and the acute stage, she was sent to Sharp Rehab for continued recovery and brain injury rehabilitation. After three years of various kinds of therapy both at Sharp and outside, she recovered 95% of her resources. Unfortunately, Allison had a second head injury in 1992 that left her disabled.

At the rehab stage, it became apparent that some of the people who were going from the acute stage to the rehab stage didn't have the insurance coverage or the personal resources for that transition. It was then that Robert decided to start a foundation that would raise money to help the financially needy to receive rehabilitation. Robert told Sharp personnel about his thoughts and they said someone else was doing the same thing. So he was introduced to Ray Willenberg who started San Diego Survivors Rehabilitation Foundation for his sister's funding problem after her serious head injury.

Ray and Robert have been partners at SRF since 1992, Robert, Past President of SRF, has found the experience to be wonderfully gratifying. It has helped him and his wife Susan to cope with their family tragedy, and given them an opportunity to see something positive coming from something so negative.

The foundation has been providing scholarships for the past twenty five years and has provided hundreds of scholarships that have enabled survivors to continue with the rehabilitation necessary for their recovery.

The Survivors Rehabilitation Foundation provides scholarships to traumatic brain injury survivors, primarily in San Diego. Scholarships enable survivors to continue rehabilitation and to reach their full potential at home, in the community and in the workplace.

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Nonprofits & Activism

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