Laura Gaddis

FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. -- In September 1999, two months before her mother died after living with Alzheimer’s disease for 12 years, Laura Gaddis opened a 1,400-square-foot thrift store in Fuquay-Varina with the idea of generating funds to support Alzheimer’s research.

The following year, Gaddis applied for and received nonprofit status for the organization, Guardian Angel Thrift, which in its first 10 years raised $1 million. And last summer, the nonprofit’s board set a goal of raising $1 million more in five years.

“All my net profit goes to Alzheimer’s research each year,” says Gaddis, an Apex native who retired after a career as an insurance agent with the Alabama Farm Bureau to help care for her mother a year before she died.

Guardian Angel donates the money it raises to Alzheimers North Carolina, which user the funds to support Alzheimer’s research in the state.

So far, Alzheimers North Carolina has awarded research grants to Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Caldwell Memorial Hospital in Hickory.

Gaddis is “one of the most committed individuals I’ve ever known,” says Alice Watkins, executive director of Alzheimers North Carolina. “We have been working and promoting together to make people aware of Alzheimer’s and to raise funds for Alzheimer’s research...."

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