The mission of the Arthritis Foundation is to support research to find a cause, cure and prevention for the many forms of arthritis, and to improve the quality of life for those affected by arthritis. The Arthritis Foundation is the source of help and hope for nearly 40 million Americans who have arthritis. The Arthritis Foundation is the only national voluntary health organization dedicated to finding a cause, cure, and prevention of arthritis as well as providing community programs, including exercise classes, support groups, educational courses, and other services. The Arthritis Foundation offers numerous brochures, a monthly newsletter, physician referral lists, and video tape lending library.
All programs are free or low cost.
Like Girl Scouts, the Arthritis Foundation relies on volunteers to staff programs and services, and fill roles such as support group facilitators, exercise group leaders, general office assistants, and marketing and promotion of programs and services. A non-profit organization, the Arthritis Foundation relies on private, corporate, and foundation contributions, fund raising events, and the United Way to support its services programs and research. Bone Builders - from Service to Gold Award Project Bone Builders was produced as a service project in 1996 by Shannon Locks, a Senoir Girl Scout volunteering with the Arthritis Foundation. More than 180 Girl Scouts from the Greater Long Beach Area Girl Scout Council participated. At that time, Bone Builders was a half day mini-camp to be held at a local park.