Foundation of Hope

About The Foundation of Hope

In 1984 Thad Eure, Jr. and his wife Alice, owners of the renowned Angus Barn Restaurant in Raleigh, North Carolina, established The Foundation of Hope for Research and Treatment of Mental Illness, a non-profit philanthropic organization dedicated to funding breakthroughs in the treatment of mental illness.

Thad and Alice Eure's commitment to finding cures for mental illness began in 1977 when a family member was diagnosed with a chronic bipolar disorder. For years, the Eure's struggled privately to find a cure for their child, without success. The Eure's traveled the country looking for facilities and doctors who could offer some promise of recovery for their child. But those efforts typically ended in despair. At the time, there were few viable treatments for mental illness. Over time, Alice and Thad learned that although one in four people nationally are touched by some form of mental illness, almost no research was being done into the causes and cures.

Originally, the funding for the Foundation was donated privately by Thad Jr. and Alice Eure. After Thad's death in 1988, his employees decided to honor his memory by raising money for the Foundation. They called their fund-raising event The Thad Eure, Jr. Walk for Hope. They walked 12 miles from Eure's first restaurant, The Angus Barn, to his last, The 42nd Street Oyster Bar. That first year they raised $35,000. Although they never dreamed that after the first year there would be another walk, the event was so successful it has become the Foundation's only annual fund-raiser. When Alice Eure died October 3, 1997, just days before the 9th Annual Thad Eure, Jr. Walk for Hope, the employees decided the walk would be renamed, as The Thad and Alice Eure Walk for Hope.

To date, The Foundation of Hope has given over $2 million to fund local research projects and treatment programs. This "seed money" has leveraged an additional $89 million in federal grants at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Dorothea Dix Hospitals. If you would like more information regarding the 96 studies that have been funded, please contact The Foundation of Hope office at 919-781-9255.