Some 300 walkers are expected to attend the 2nd annual “Romp to Stomp” one mile Parkinson’s awareness walk this weekend at Flower Hospital. On Sat., June 25 from 10 a.m. to noon folks of all ages will be walking to raise donations and awareness for Parkinson’s disease.

All walkers are welcome for this free event, said Mark Fischer, president of the Parkinson Foundation of Northwest Ohio (PFNWO). Fischer said he encourages people to bring the whole family to support the cause. PFNWO will be accepting cash and check contributions.

“(We want) to help aid in the fundraising for research, development of, and awareness for funding … for a cure,” he said.

The walk is a great family event, Fischer said, as they added a youth one mile run in addition to the main walk. The youth run will begin around 9:45 a.m., Fischer said, with the main walk to follow.

Fischer started the walk last year when he became president of PFNWO, a nonprofit group dedicated to raising awareness and education for sufferers of Parkinson’s disease. Group officials often talked about starting a race or walk for awareness at board meetings, Fischer said, and he wanted to make it happen.

“(We) would say, ‘They have a walk over here, they have a walk over there, we need to start a walk,’” he said. “Last year when I started I said, ‘Let’s take the bull by the horns.’”

And his hard work paid off. Fischer said he was pleased with last year’s turnout, and is confident this event will be an even bigger success.

“(I) have to say it was very successful,” Fischer said. “The best of our estimates were 150 (participants) and we’re hoping this year we’ll double that.”

There’s no specific fundraising goal, Fischer said, but pre-registration numbers have increased from last year and they expect a decent crowd.

“Of course funds are our goal because we’d like to help and assist with research and development for a cure … but it isn’t our main goal to push for money because we don’t want to develop an attitude of, ‘Money money money,’” he said.

Snacks and entertainment will be provided; attendees can enjoy raffles for prizes, clowns and live music by local musician Dave Browning. Walkers can form teams of at least four to gather donations. T-shirts will be sold at the event for $10; each child entered in the youth run will receive a free t-shirt.

Walk day registration begins at 9 a.m. at Flower Hospital, 5200 Harroun Rd., Sylvania, Ohio. Flower Hospital and the PFNWO are sponsoring the event.

For those who cannot attend but want to help the cause, contributions can be mailed to the PFNWO main office at 1930 N. St. Rt. 19, Oak Harbor, Ohio 43449.

Tags: Fundraiser, Parkinson's Disease

This entry was posted on Friday, June 24th, 2011 at 12:43 am and is filed under Arts and Life, Fundraiser.
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