By Kerry Braun, Director of Community Engagement and Lexi Brace, Assistant Director of Marketing & Engagement
For over 20 years, our community has gathered throughout Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania to walk in honor of loved ones with ALS, remember those we have lost, and walk toward a future without ALS.
In 2024, our ALS United Mid-Atlantic Engagement team came together to work on something new. Through months of planning and thoughtful discussions, we proudly created the new ALS United Walk program.
Unity will be at the core of the ALS United Walk experience. Although everyone has a unique story that brings them to the ALS United Walk, their motivation is the same – to end ALS. To end ALS for someone they love or someone meaningful in their life, so that no one has to suffer through this disease. Only through the power of unity can this goal be achieved.
Members of the ALS community can stop by the Show Your Unity tent at the ALS United Walk to pick up a sign. Whether they are living with ALS, a caregiver, or part of the ALS community, we encourage everyone to display their role in the movement to end ALS.
• Living with ALS – Blue represents someone living with ALS.
• United in Support – Orange represents those who love or support a person living with ALS.
• United in Advocacy – Yellow represents those who advocate for ALS research, care, and caregiver support.
• United in Caregiving – Green represents those who are or have been caregivers to someone living with ALS.
• United in Memory – White represents those who honor the memory of someone who lived with ALS.
The Show Your Unity tent will also feature stickers for everyone in attendance to wear. Each sticker will have a blank space for members of the ALS community to share why they are walking to end ALS.
We created one large ALS United Walk banner at the Share Your Unity tent. This banner allows people to share messages of hope, love, and support for people with ALS or those we have lost to this dreadful disease. During the closing ceremony, an ALS United Mid-Atlantic staff member will unveil the completed banner signed by the ALS community. The banner reminds us why the ALS United Walk is so important and that no one faces ALS alone – we are all united in the battle to end ALS.
The ALS United Walk also has new fundraising incentives to encourage our ALS community to go the extra mile to earn fun prizes! Individuals who raise $100 or more two weeks before the Walk will receive an ALS United Walk T-shirt. The 2024 ALS United Walk T-shirt features the new ALS United logo! For individuals who raise $1,000 or more, they get to join our Champions United Club. Members of the Champions United Club will receive a special medal and hear their names listed during the ceremony.
This past spring, we officially launched the ALS United Walk in Scranton, PA, Seaside Heights, NJ, and Hershey, PA. These three ALS United Walks raised over $189,000 to support local care service programs and innovative research. While this is a tremendous accomplishment, our work doesn’t stop here. We invite members of the ALS community to join us this fall as we continue to roll out our new ALS United Walk program.
2024 ALS United Walk Schedule:
• Saturday, September 7, in Rehoboth Beach, DE
• Saturday, September 14, in Ocean City, NJ
• Saturday, September 28, in Allentown, PA
• Saturday, November 16, in Philadelphia, PA
On behalf of all the staff at ALS United Mid-Atlantic, thank you for supporting our mission over the past 20 years at the Walk and we look forward to seeing you this fall!