#ALS AWARENESS #LouGehrigsDisease #PARKINSONS, Page 23

Open Letter to the ALS Community in Georgia | #ALS AWARENESS #LouGehrigsDisease #PARKINSONS | Scoop.it

March 21, 2014 2:10 PM

Cure for ALS's curator insight, March 21, 2014 2:10 PM

Dear Friends,

In 43 days, our family (affectionately known as “Team Duffy”) will go into team mode and host our 8th annual road race for ALS. The FIESTA 5k/15k Challenge is Saturday, May 3, 2014 in Cumming, GA on the campus of Lanier Technical College. Since our first race in 2007, we have donated 100% of the proceeds from this event to the Emory ALS Center, a place where many of you or your loved ones have been cared for and possibly participated in a clinical trial for ALS.

When we began planning our first event, we made a conscious choice to have it in the spring instead of the fall so supporters of ALS would not have to choose between the Walk to Defeat ALS in Atlanta, the Night of Hope Gala, or our event. Since May is ALS Awareness Month we hold the FIESTA 5k/15k Challenge on the first Saturday in May each year to kick off the month-long campaign of awareness and advocacy.

The team at the Emory ALS Center has 400+ active patients whom they are caring for and working with in the various trials and studies. The needs to continue the work of this amazing group of people are large and the success of this event is critical to help them.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! The ALS community in Georgia is a close-knit group and I am asking for your help in one (or more!) of the following areas:

Tell someone you know about the FIESTA 5k/15k Challenge!Invite your friends or family members to register to run, walk, or come and cheer for our participants. You can link to registration at www.FiestaRunGA.com .Register for the first time and join us for a morning where we “Celebrate Life…Imagine a Cure.”Donate $5, $10, $20 to one of our fundraising teams or to the event itself. http://www.crowdrise.com/fiesta5k15kchallengeforals2014Create a fundraising team of your own.Make this the year that you support this event if you have not done so in the past.

I promise you will be uplifted by our generous sponsors who come back year after year, the distance runners in the 15k race who will ‘wow’ you with their perseverance, the 5k runners and walkers who push themselves to reach a new goal or who are out there in support of a beloved pALS. You will smile as the Fun Run participants race around campus and finish with a big grin, and the music and energy of the morning will be the best start to your day – and to ALS Awareness Month.

With your help, we will reach our fundraising goal, and this will be the biggest and best race in our eight year history.

On behalf of Team Duffy – thank you,

Karen Duffy