Athens worked together to propel the mission of the Alzheimer’s Association Saturday. A total of 401 participants and 38 teams gathered at Eclipse Company Store in The Plains, located at 11309 Jackson Drive, for the 2024 Walk to End Alzheimer's Athens 1 mile route.
“What makes our community unique is, of course, the university being here,” Alicia Billman, the Walk’s manager, said. “We like to also have, involved at our walks, the younger folks as well, because this is about prevention in order for us to find success overcoming this disease.”
Registering for the walk means a commitment to raising donations that “further the care, support, and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association,” according to the association's website. Each team set itself a donation goal to work to meet before the day of the event.
“I have a gal that brings in $10,000 every year because she does a bingo and then bakes pies,” Billman said.
Sigma Kappa at Ohio University rounded up over 70 walkers for their team, led by Ava Wood, a sophomore studying environmental science and vice president of philanthropic services for the sorority. Out of the five philanthropies it serves, Sigma Kappa’s main focus is with the Alzheimer’s Association, Wood said.
“I don’t have a personal connection to Alzheimer’s, but talking to the girls in our chapter and being friends with people who do have personal connections, it’s super impactful and meaningful to get to contribute to something that will eventually be giving back to the families with people with Alzheimer’s and also people who are suffering from the disease,” Wood said.
The sorority partnered with the fraternity Beta Chi, discussing the best ways to fundraise and encourage donations through their link. Wood, a few of her friends and other students in the sorority assisted in the setup and tear down for the event.
Another OU group involved with the inner workings of the Walk was the Aging and Gerontological Education Society, which focuses on the “support of older adults in aging,” Emma Griffey, a junior studying nursing who volunteered at the event, said.
First getting involved with the Alzheimer’s Association in her hometown in light of her personal connection to the disease, Griffey also credits her passion for helping the older adult population in her participation with the Athens sect of the Walk.
AGES helped before and after kickoff and was a part of running the Memory Wall, which is Griffey’s favorite part of the morning, she said.
“If you know someone who had Alzheimer’s or dementia … you get to write their name on the wall and then they save all of those and you walk in remembrance of them,” Griffey said. “So I’ve done walks in the past … my grandma had Alzheimer’s… I didn’t get to do as much walking, but I still got to work the memory wall and remember my grandma the whole time.”
The Walk to End Alzheimer’s Athens also hosts a Promised Garden Ceremony that serves as the kickoff.
“The ceremony is this solace time that we have,” Billman said. “We have four different color flowers: we have a blue, a yellow, a purple and an orange. Each of those flowers represents a reason that somebody might connect to the Alzheimer’s Association.”
A purple flower shows the walker has lost a loved one to the disease, yellow means they are a caretaker, blue represents a person with dementia and orange exhibits support for a world without Alzheimer’s.
“My grandfather passed away from Alzheimer’s, so when this position had opened up, with my background and my experience and my love for the Athens community specifically, (I took it),” Billman said. “I love all rural communities, so to be able to be a support person within the Southeast Ohio region, was calling my name.”
Following the walk, participants arrived back at the Eclipse Company Store for live music and food.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, nearly seven million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s. Achieving 67% of their donation goal of $41,602 and receiving almost 50 more participants than last year, the Walk to End Alzheimer’s Athens is working to fulfill the goals of the association in their support to fight this disease that affects the lives of millions across the country.
