MS Walk at Harper breaks the record for fundraising
As walk-a-thons go, the Greater Illinois Chapter of the MS Society hit the jackpot on Sunday.
Oh sure, they raised an estimated $3.6 million with their 13 Chicago area walks combined and drew more than 14,000 participants, making them the largest fundraiser of the 600 walks nationwide.
But organizers say they hit a grand slam with Sunday's picture perfect, spring weather.
"It was a feeling of celebration," says Cheryl Roberts of Elk Grove Village, coordinator of the Northwest suburban walk.
"We had an extraordinary number of people living with MS who came out," Roberts says. "I am so proud of them. It's for them that we do this. It was a glorious day."
The Northwest suburban site at Harper College, drew more than 1,300 people, 400 more than last year.
She estimates they combined to raise more than $300,000 at Harper on Sunday, including $76,000 of pledges turned in that day. Top fundraisers included Karie McClure of Schaumburg, and Arlington Heights sisters Kristin and Tracy Glink.
Leading the pack was Laura Machonis of Bartlett, whose Crop for the Cure: Making MS a Memory team raised $25,000. This makes the third year in a row hers has been the top Northwest suburban team, and the sixth in the state.
Machonis was diagnosed with MS in 1997. She was 31 years old and two months pregnant when she suddenly went blind. Within six weeks her sight returned to normal and she later delivered a healthy baby boy, but a similar episode two years later led to her diagnosis.
She has been participating in the MS Walk ever since. Two years ago, she conceived the idea of combining scrapbooking with her passion to find a cure for MS.
A weekend scrapbooking event held in January at Our Redeemer's Methodist Church in Schaumburg, allowed her to raise a bulk of this year's proceeds.
Stories like hers played out across the day.
It all started when members of the Palatine High School drum line started their cadences to ramp up the excitement. They led walkers under a brightly colored balloon arch to make their 3-mile trek around the Palatine campus.
Along the way, youngsters from Sarah Adams Elementary School in Lake Zurich handed out water and fruit at rest stops. Members of the Schaumburg Amateur Radio Club were on walkie talkies providing communication support.
Once back at the start, participants found a buffet filled with donated food, including sandwiches from Jimmy John's in Barrington and Algonquin; entrees from Noodles in Schaumburg and the 26 Jamba Juice locations in the Northwest suburbs, and ice cream from Oberweis Dairy in Aurora.
Roberts's committee, more than half of whom have the disease, coordinated the walk. They are Yvonne Doruff of Elk Grove, Sally Franz of Wood Dale, Judy Finnell of Palatine, Kim Brinkman-Peck of Carpentersville, Chris Piccoli of Park Ridge, Gayle Peterson of Rolling Meadows, and Allanna and Steve Walsh of Arlington Heights.
The money collected is given to the Greater Illinois Chapter, one of the top supporters of clinical research on MS.
Locally, there are 15 research projects being funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Since its founding, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society has contributed more than $420 million to MS research.