Oct 06, 2009
Top Fundraisers Drive Walk MS Total Past $1 Million Mark
Sean O'Leary, Communications Specialist
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Top Fundraisers Drive Walk MS Total Past $1 Million Mark
HARTFORD, Conn. – Hamden resident Chris Getman and the 174-member Travelers walk team have been named the 2009 top fundraisers for this year’s Travelers Walk MS event.
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| Members of the Travelers fundraising team gather outside the company’s headquarters in Hartford. The 144-member team was the top fundraising team statewide for the 2009 Travelers Walk MS event as they raised $44,552. The 2010 Walk MS event is scheduled for Sunday, April 18, 2010, at 10 locations across the state – Cheshire, Clinton, Enfield, Litchfield, Manchester, New London, Simsbury, West Hartford, West Haven and Westport. |
For the second year in a row, Getman took home the honor for the most money raised by a single walker. Getman walks in honor of his wife, Toddie, who was diagnosed in 1975. This year marked the 13th consecutive year that Getman participated in the Walk MS event.
Getman raised $19,190 during the 2009 Travelers Walk MS and he attributed his success to his long-standing letter-writing campaign.
Travelers, the Hartford-based sponsor of the event, led the state as the top fundraising team with 174 walkers combining to raise $44,552.
The efforts of the Travelers fundraising team began in early 2009 as four Travelers employees – Todd Bateson, Jim Birchall, Kate Kane and Rita Ortiz – began recruiting employees to join the team. The Travelers team and its members created several unique fundraisers leading up to the Walk MS event, including a Valentine’s Day rose sale that netted $3,000 and an MS Awareness Night held during a Hartford Wolf Pack game in April.
In April, 9,335 walkers stepped out during the Travelers Walk MS, presented by Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, for the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter.
“This year’s Walk MS raised more than $1.16 million as communities across Connecticut came together to support the fight against multiple sclerosis,” said Lisa Gerrol, Connecticut Chapter president. “We had an amazing turnout as every single participant and volunteer devoted so much of their time and energy to make this one of our most successful Walk MS events to date.”
More than 6,000 Connecticut residents are affected by multiple sclerosis, a potentially debilitating disease affecting the central nervous system. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot be predicted.
Funds raised by the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter, through events, such as the Walk MS, ensure ongoing scientific research to find better treatments and a cure, as well as to provide vital programs and services offered by the chapter to those in the state living with multiple sclerosis.
The 2010 Walk MS event is scheduled for Sunday, April 18, 2010, at 10 locations across the state – Cheshire, Clinton, Enfield, Litchfield, Manchester, New London, Simsbury, West Hartford, West Haven and Westport.
Online registration for the 2010 Walk MS opens Sunday, Nov. 1, at www.ctfightsMS.org. For more information on the event, please contact Nicole Marohn, associate vice president of development for the Connecticut Chapter, at 860-913-2550, ext. 244, or e-mail nmarohn@ctfightsMS.org.
To learn more about MS, its effects and the many ways the National MS Society, Connecticut Chapter assists those living with MS, please visit www.ctfightsMS.org.
10/6/09
Sean O'Leary
Communications Specialist
National MS Society - Connecticut Chapter
659 Tower Avenue, First Floor
Hartford, CT 06112
tel 860.913.2550, ext. 249
soleary@ctfightsMS.org
www.ctfightsMS.org