A message from Mark Allen & Kristina Grey and Steve & Anne Knight, co-chairs of the Help + Hope Dinner.
We were recently honored to serve as co-chairs for the Help & Hope dinner to raise awareness and critical funds in support of the Alzheimer’s Association in Washington. We are delighted to share the inaugural event raised over $365,000.
As families impacted by Alzheimer’s and dementia, the event held personal significance for us. We feel the strain of navigating the complexities of these diseases, and are committed to helping provide programs and services for families like ours.
We know how overwhelming a new diagnosis can be, and we want to be sure other families are able to access resources to remove some of the guesswork. We know the strain of being a care partner for a loved one as they become less independent, so we want to help provide families with support and community. Aligning with the Alzheimer’s Association is a natural fit in meeting our priorities around making care and support resources widely available and accessible.
As parents, we want a brighter future for our children. Supporting research is vitally important to us for this reason. Our hope is to spare our children, and their families, from experiencing The Long Goodbye. We have been fortunate enough to listen to lectures from top researchers and experts in the field, and we have shared in the excitement of our local chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association as word of viable treatments first broke. We have hope for the future, and we are seeing some of that hope materialize into results, but the work is not finished.
Viable treatments addressing root causes are just one piece of the puzzle. We must also develop methods of prevention and other treatments to stop progression. In the meantime, thousands of individuals each day will need improved diagnostics and access to information, resources, and medication.
We trust the Alzheimer’s Association’s approach to increasing its reach and impact. We believe their advocacy and aggressive approach to research will help pave the way for significant advancements in our lifetime.
If you have questions about the Help + Hope Gala, please contact Adrienne Genise at aagenise@alz.org.
