Walk & Roll to Cure FSHD is coming next month!

 by Beth Johnston and Leigh Reynolds, FSH Society

Our first nationally branded event, the Walk & Roll to Cure FSHD, will take place in September and October 2018. This new, signature fundraising event is happening in five locations around the U.S., with additional sites being added in 2019. Find them here.

Our five brave Walk & Roll “pioneer” volunteers have been taking part in monthly training sessions, testing fundraising materials, reviewing and learning the software platform, and offering valuable feedback and insight as they prepare to host their events. Their participation and leadership are paving the way for a nationwide program in the future, while generating important revenue today. With weeks to go until our first event, we are on track to blow our inaugural fundraising goal out of the water!

The Walk & Roll is first and foremost a fundraiser, generating critical funds to support the search for treatments and a cure. But it is also about so much more:

• Building community―On event day, for a few hours, we all join together as one. Living with FSHD can be a lonely road. At the walk & roll, we realize no one makes the journey alone.
• Empowering patients and families―Knowledge is power. We come together to walk and roll, but we leave with knowledge, connection, inspiration, and new determination to make change happen.
• Telling the story―In raising funds, you are challenged to share your story—how FSHD has impacted your family, how the FSH Society has helped, your hope for the future. The walk and roll opens the door to that conversation, leaving all of the people you ask more informed and aware about FSHD and its impact.
• Building programs―The event will draw a crowd and engage a wide cross-section of people with unique talents and interests that can be activated for other chapter events.
• Tremendous fundraising potential―Each person raising a little adds up to a lot. The funds raised through this event may be the ones that fund a cure.

If there is not a Walk & Roll in your area, you can still participate!

• Find a team member from one of our events and show your solidarity by making a gift to support his or her fundraising efforts.
• Share information about the walk and roll on your social media accounts.
• Be on the lookout for a walk and roll to come to your area in the future, then plan to lead a team and bring others to the event!
• Or make plans to lead a walk and roll in your area in 2019!

To learn more, contact Beth Johnston, chief community development officer, at Beth.Johnston@FSHSociety.org.