Events raise funds for Alzheimer′s research
Anissa Rupert Ilie
From Helping Hands, www.centredaily.com
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
As you read these words, 5.3 million Americans—according to the Alzheimer′s Association—are afflicted with Alzheimer′s disease. The 2010 Alzheimer′s Association facts and figures report states that, as the most common form of dementia and the seventh leading cause of death in the country, Alzheimer′s claims as much as 24 percent of Pennsylvania′s population alone, based on statistics between 2000 and 2005.
That′s why each year Team Brookline takes fundraising for the local Memory Walk very seriously. The team, led by Liz Plozner, activities director at the Terrace at Brookline, consists of Brookline staff, family and friends all focusing on the common goal of ending the devastating disease.
Just weeks after each year′s Memory Walk ends, Team Brookline kicks off its fundraising efforts for the next year′s walk with the annual Fall Festival at Harner Farm on West Whitehall Road in Ferguson Township. The event features activities for families, including pumpkin decorating, a corn maze, fall foods, kids′ games, clowns, face painting, a bake sale and Harner′s delicious hot apple cider. This year will mark the third year for the festival, slated for noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 24.
Other fundraisers held in the past year have included weekly staff dress-down days at Brookline, where employees can donate a dollar to dress down on Fridays; a Christmas in July sale, featuring local retailers and vendors selling their wares, with each donating a portion of the proceeds to the cause; sandwich and pizza sales; a candle sale. There′s also a public staff and resident yard sale where, in addition to the basic donated items, resident volunteers from Brookline′s Windsong, The Inn and PineCastle hand-crocheted dish clothes to be offered at the sale. One resident even offered one of her handmade quilts to be auctioned at the event. The top State College Memory Walk fundraising team in 2009, Team Brookline is working toward that goal again. "It′s a great feeling for us to band together, serve our community, and help make a difference in the fight against Alzheimer′s," Plozner said.
Memory Walk is the Alzheimer′s Association-Greater Pennsylvania Chapter′s signature event. It is attended annually by almost 7,000 people in 20 walks held in the 59 counties served by the chapter, according to the organization′s website. This year′s local Memory Walk will start at 9 a.m. Oct. 2, at the Pennsylvania Military Museum in Boalsburg.
More information is available at www.alz.org.