Foundation Fighting Blindness to Honor Key Food CEO

The 2nd Annual Una Visión Para El Futuro (“A Vision for the Future”), held by Columbia, Md.-based nonprofit organization Foundation Fighting Blindness, will honor Key Food Chief Executive Dean Janeway as the area’s supermarket industry leaders unite to raise awareness and research funds for such retinal degenerative diseases as macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). The event will take place Jan. 17 at Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows Park in the New York City borough of Queens.

Chairing the event for the second year is Jason Ferreira, a foundation national trustee whose family owns a group of Met Foodmarkets. His son, JJ, was born blind due to a rare genetic form of RP called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA).

“Progress in gene therapy and stem cell-based clinical trials gives us hope for a brighter future for JJ and the 10 million other families in America affected by blinding retinal diseases,” said Ferreira. “Leaders coming together for this important cause is a true testament to the giving spirit of our industry.”

Ferreira’s co-chair, Amie Kreisberg has a stepson with RP. Her grandfather was president of Key Food in Brooklyn, N.Y., and her father, Lawrence Mandel, is currently the company’s chairman of the board. Emceeing this year’s event is the reigning Mrs. World, April Lufriu, who is affected with RP, along with her two children.

As chief executive of the Staten Island, N.Y.-based Key Food retail cooperative since 2008, Janeway oversees the company’s 127 supermarkets in the metro New York area. He has also held leadership positions at the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. and the Campbell Soup Co.

Among the event’s sponsors are Allegiance Retail Services, Bozzuto’s Inc., C&S Wholesale Grocers, Fresh Express, Krasdale, Procter & Gamble and Tropicana.

Individual tickets are available for $350, and sponsorship packages start at $1,000. For ticket and sponsorship information, contact events manager Katie Van Benschoten at [email protected] or 212-244-1470.