By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Oct. 8, 2002
Organizers of the 4th Annual Alzheimer's Memory Walk were pleased with the community's response this year.
Barb Dobrosky, state program director of the Alzheimer's Association, said this year's walk, corporate donations and proceeds from a benefit golf tournament held in August raised a total of nearly $20,000.
The Memory Walk, which took place Saturday at Bonita Lakes, is an annual event to increase awareness of Alzheimer's disease and raise money for research and educational programs.
A total of 108 walkers from Clarke, Jasper, Lauderdale, Leake, Neshoba, Newton, Scott and Smith counties participated this year, raising about $12,000.
This year's corporate sponsors, Beverly Healthcare-Broadmoor, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, Riley Hospital, Rush Foundation Hospital, Silverleaf Manor and Structural Steel raised $8,000.
When the event started in 1999, corporate sponsors contributed $10,000 to the effort and walkers brought in $1,118.
Alzheimer's is an incurable brain disease that mainly affects senior citizens. It gradually robs its victims of the ability to care for themselves. According to the Alzheimer's Association, more than 48,000 Mississippians and about 4 million Americans have the disease. One in 10 people who are more than 65 years old have Alzheimer's and about half of the population age 85 or older have the disease.