Three Families Honored for Work

In Behalf of Brain Injury Survivors

Ventura, CA  --  The Brain Injury Center of  Ventura County bestowed its highest award to three families whose efforts have provided particular benefit to brain injury survivors.  The Stork Award, named after BIC founders Dave and Midge Stork, was presented to the Arragg, Lindsey and Prewitt families at the organization’s annual November fund raiser.

Each of the families includes a member who has a brain injury.  After gaining help from the Brain Injury Center to deal with the extraordinary problems of this disability, all three families elected to become active with the group so that they could help others.

      Ron and Ann Arragg of Ventura have been leaders of the Brain Injury Center since its beginnings.  Ron, a pharmacist, suffered a brain injury in 1967.  No organization or agency existed in Ventura County to help a brain injury survivor transition back to a “normal life.”   He has participated in the weekly BIC family support group, helping caregivers in providing pharmaceutical and other advice, and also represents a living testimony to recovery. 

       Ann has contributed significant energy and resources to BIC fundraisers, joined the Board in 2006 and served as the organization’s treasurer for over two years.  Said Ann recently, “Ron and I are so proud to see that the Brain Injury Center has endured and that its presence has helped so many people in Ventura Count

       Oxnard residents Brian and Mackie Lindsey joined BIC in the early 1990's and have been valuable contributors ever since. Brian is a brain injury survivor and discovered the Brain Injury Center (still named Brain Injury Support Group at that time) while he was a student in the disabled students’ program at Ventura Community College. Brian has previously served on the board as a representative of brain injury survivors. Both he and Mackie have been active for years in helping with the annual fundraisers and have generously volunteered their time whenever asked to assist with BIC projects.

        Jenna Prewitt was a popular high school junior and a Ventura County high jump champion when a car crash put her into a coma for three months, in hospitals for a year, and then left her in a wheelchair with permanent traumatic brain injury.  Her family’s life, too, was forever altered that day.  Mike Prewitt, a high school basketball coach and teacher; and Linda, a junior high school teacher, faced their new challenges with great determination.  They discovered BIC and obtained some of the guidance and answers they needed to help their daughter progress toward a more meaningful life. 

         But they didn’t stop there.  The Prewitt family, who live in Camarillo, became leaders in the group, attending meetings, counseling others, volunteering their time for many important projects and making vital contributions to BIC fund raising events.  They vowed to be there for others who needed them and have continually lived up to that promise.  As for Jenna, the Prewitts were told the night of her accident that she might not make it through the night.  But she did. And Jenna just graduated from Ventura College. The Prewitts believe that BIC played a helpful role in that accomplishment.

         The awards were bestowed at the group’s annual Cornucopia fund raiser at the Pierpont Inn.  The event raised over $22,000 and is the single most important source of funding for the non-profit Brain Injury Center.  The organization does not receive any state of federal funding and relies on contributions and the energetic work of volunteers to aid the estimated 16,000 brain injury survivors in Ventura County.

         “It’s people like these who allow us to exist,” said BIC president David Wilk.  “Families that have been struck by the tragedy of a brain injury are particularly aware of how serious the problems can be.  The problems don’t ever go away.  These families did not sit back and feel sorry for themselves, they worked with great determination to help others make progress toward a better life.”