Staff Reports
About 2,000 participants in two separate fundraisers raised more than $100,000 combined in Bartholomew County — one of them a walk and the other a bicycle ride.
About 650 people helped raised a projected $90,000 at Sunday’s Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s through Mill Race Park, with a final amount still being tallied. Money funds Alzheimer’s care, support and research programs.
“We are so grateful to the community for coming out to support our vision of a world without Alzheimer’s disease,” said Kyle Davern, development specialist for the Alzheimer’s Association Greater Indiana Chapter.
Seventy-three teams participated in the 2018 Columbus Walk to End Alzheimer’s, including the top fundraisers known as Grandpa’s Gang, which raised $7,940.
In Indiana alone, more than 110,000 people live with the disease.
Meanwhile, the Sept. 22 Hope Ride, which benefits food pantries and other youth programs, raised more than $20,000 and brought 1,300 bicyclists to Hope from around the country.
Bike riders traveled to Hope from states such as Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, Florida and Texas for the 31st annual ride, event organizer and founder Paul Ashbrook said.
Some of the organizations that will benefit directly include the Clifford, Hope and Hartsville volunteer fire departments, the Interchurch Food Pantry of Johnson County and Hauser High School’s Dollar for Scholars program, which provides financial assistance students who are current seniors or in college, he said.
Boy Scout troops from Shelbyville, Columbus and Hope will also benefit from this year’s event, along with food pantries in central and south-central Indiana, Ashbrook said.
He credited the volunteers and sponsors who stepped up to make the ride a success this year.
“It’s always a nice way to give back in the community and other communities,” Ashbrook said. “It goes way beyond Hope.”
Ashbrook said the ride has raised more than $750,000 since it started.
“After 31 years, we’re still going strong,” he said. “We’re just really so thankful for the riders that come out and support us.”
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People can still donate to the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s, which was Sunday in Mill Race Park. Visit act.alz.org/Columbus.
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