This past Saturday, April 4, 2009, I participated in the Heart Walk. My sister and I had a team of 7 people - us, two of my cousins, and three of my sister's coworkers. We raised over $800 for the American Heart Association!
My sister and I before the walk... aren't we just too cute?
My sister and I were walking to honor our dad, who has had bypass surgery and countless heart caths and stent placements. My cousins were walking in memory of their mother, who passed way due to heart disease on March 23rd. It was an emotional day, especially for them. We were surrounded by survivors - adults and children. It's easy sometimes to forget that heart disease isn't just an adult, poor-lifestyle kind of thing. There were teams devoted to these kids who were born with heart problems. It was very touching to see so many people doing something to bring awareness and raise funds to help everyone with heart disease.
We plan on reviving our team next year, and hopefully adding to it. I think my sister said our goal will be 10 members and $1000 raised. This year it was just 5 members and $500, which we blew out of the water.
Next Saturday I have the MS Walk, in honor of my mother who has struggled with Multiple Sclerosis for about 20 years now. I'm doing that one alone, but I've raised $50 so far and have a few people who have promised to donate that haven't yet. And I have added another walk, but it's not on the list. A group from my church is doing the Alzheimer's Memory Walk and asked me to join them. At first I wasn't going to, because it would make three weekends in a row that I'd be doing charity walks and people are getting a little tired of me begging for donations. But my grandmother, who passed away 3 years ago, suffered from Alzheimer's, so it's just as important to me as the Heart Walk and MS Walks. It's sad to say, but there are probably other walks that I'm not aware of that I could do due to personal connections like that. You name a disease, someone in my family has it or has had it.
Way to go !!!! These charity walks have a great feeling to them, don't they---as you said, touching! Well, if a walk for Autism or Fragile-X comes up in your area, feel free to walk in my kids honour too, lol ! I love that picture of you and your sister !!!!
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