 |
 |
Listfriends -- With pleasure and pride, we announce PARKINSON'S POWER ACROSS AMERICA, a series of crosscountry treks -- mostly by bike and on occasion by kayak and hike -- to raise awareness and funds for Parkinson's disease research. The announcement coincides with Parkinson's Awareness Month and the forthcoming anniversary of Dr. Parkinson's birth (April 11). Our main trek, travelling east to west, features a team of six young men and women headed by Matt Drayton, an adventure-athlete recently graduated from the University of New Hampshire. It will take off from Durham, NH on Thursday, May 13, and conclude in the San Francisco Bay Area soon after Labor Day. Celebratory events are being scheduled in Boston (Saturday, May 15); New York City (Thursday, May 20); Chicago (Saturday and Sunday, June 5-6); Minneapolis (Friday and Saturday, June 11-12); Denver (July 4 weekend); and The San Francisco South Bay (weekend of September 12). Additional celebrations along the route, large and small, are heartily encouraged -- contact us for details! The second trek is travelling west to east (from Southern California to South Florida) and is led by Donna Kos, who is celebrating her dad who lived many years with Parkinson's, and Wallace Teal, whose late wife suffered many years with the condition. They are already en route and will be feted this coming weekend in Houston, TX by a major celebratory event led by Bob Martone and the other wonderful Parkinsons' groups in Houston. The third, featuring Kent Johnson, a high-school senior who is travelling with an Adventure Cycling tour that takes off in mid-June, crests the Great Divide in a stunning north to south tour from Montana to Mexico. Kent is doing this for his uncle Bob, a PWP in Greenwich, CT. The project is sponsored by the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, joined by several other national PD organizations which have agreed to list their research programs as beneficiaries of donated funds, and is supported by corporate and foundation donors. People who are considering contributions -- a penny, a nickel, a dime, a quarter, a dollar per mile -- may choose WHICH of the three treks they wish to honor and WHERE (among the various research and research advocacy programs at the national PD organizations) they wish their contributions to go. For a copy of our new brochure listing the details and providing a pledge form, call us at 1-800-457-6676; fax us at 212-923-4778; or e-mail us at [log in to unmask] (just mention Parkinson's Power Across America). For an overview of the project and profiles of the participants and their routes and schedules, check our website at www.parkinsonspower.org (we're very proud of this website, brilliantly and painstakingly created by Chuck Drayton, Matt's dad). PARKINSON'S POWER ACROSS AMERICA is proud to join with PENNIES FOR PARKINSON'S (already well advertised on this listserv -- contact Bill Turenne at NPF in Washington for details) and the many other events celebrating this Parkinson's Awareness Month. Different strokes; overlapping folks; identical cause. I look forward to your comments and participation! Robin Elliott, Executive Director, Parkinson's Disease Foundation