The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Fundraiser celebrates a thousand lights
Alzheimer’s Association’s Cleveland Chapter celebrates fundraiser dinner
The Alzheimer’s Association’s Cleveland Area Chapter gathered May 3 in Cleveland for their annual Night of a Thousand Lights Benefit Dinner.
About 370 guests packed the ballroom at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Cleveland where they raised nearly $324,000 to support the chapter’s free care and support services for those suffering from an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis.
This was just short of the chapter’s goal of $392,000, but some late donations are expected, according to Kelly Donahue, marketing and communications manager for the chapter.
The event was co-chaired by Avon Lake native Ann Paras and Sam Martello of Westlake.
Paras said she started volunteering for the association about eight years ago.
“My dad died of Alzheimer’s and my mother had vascular dementia, which is a very similar journey, so when my youngest child went away to college I decided to volunteer at organizations that meant a lot to me and this was at the top of the list,” she said.
Paras said that in her volunteering with the association she has served in a number of roles but now her primary role is facilitating support groups for people with an Alzheimer’s diagnosis and their caretakers.
“One of the programs I started was an adult children group because that was me as an adult child taking care of a parent,” she said. “That’s a group that’s very special to me.”
She said the association has a couple big fund raisers every year, and the Night of a Thousand Lights is mainly focused toward research and continuing the programs offered.
“All of our services are free of charge, so we need, obviously, need funds to continue running those programs,” she said.
Paras said she’s glad there’s an increase in awareness about Alzheimer’s disease.
“The perception of Alzheimer’s disease for a really long time has been, ‘Oh, my grandmother had that,’” she said. “One of the support groups that I facilitate are people that are diagnosed as an early onset. So, they are in their 40s, 50s, 60s, so they are having to stop their jobs, they’re having to tell their families and they’re so young.
“People don’t think it’s a disease that’s going to strike somebody that’s that young,” she continued. “That’s something that I really hope there’s an increase in awareness of.”
The emotional climax of the evening came during the lighting ceremony, in which each attendee was tasked with lighting a small purple tea light. The ceremony was led by Betty Kemper, president of The Kemper Company, who shared the story of her husband who has been diagnosed with the disease.
“He fought it as hard as anyone,” she said. “This summer was a particularly significant summer because he declined very rapidly. It was a very enlightening experience, even for me who has been in the business now for over 20 something years, and I now appreciate very much the theme of caregiver support that the Alzheimer’s Association offers, because it really is a not very pleasant experience to go through.”
Kemper then asked everyone to stand and turn on their tea light when she described a situation involving the disease that reflected their experience.
By the end, every attendee was standing and in the dimmed lights of the room a sea of gentle purple tea lights shone representing the wide range of individuals affected by the disease.
Later in the evening Harry Johns, the association’s CEO and president, spoke about the group’s successes in getting legislation passed that will help to fight the disease.
“A few years ago we were able to pass a piece of legislation called the National Alzheimer’s Project Act that required the creation of a plan for dementia in America for the first time ever,” he said. “That plan has been very effective.
“One of the things that got in that plan, and credit to the federal level folks, was an objective to have prevention and effective treatment by 2025,” Johns said. “Now, if you’re dealing with that situation today that’s a long time, but in the medical and science world that’s a very short timeline even from when the plan was created back in 2011.”
He said this objective has allowed the association to work with the U.S. Congress to advance other high-impact legislation including: federal budget increases for Alzheimer’s and dementia research and medicare’s coverage of care consultations for those diagnosed with the disease and their caretakers.