Walk Your Way all month long!
Join us as we celebrate our Walk community and spread ALS Awareness across Northern California during the month of WALKtober!
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Walking to Reach Our Goal All Month Long! |
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The arrival of Fall means one thing... WALKtober and the start of our month-long quest to #endALS! Saturday, October 3rd, 2020 marked the *official* kick-off where we enjoyed the company of a few of our top teams at Drake’s: The Barn, celebrated with a virtual Walk to Defeat ALS, and were thrilled by the resounding success of your Walk Your Way events across Northern California!
From sailing to lemonade stands to virtual trivia, you made the Walk your own this year and spread ALS awareness near and far… and you aren’t done yet! There is still more to come throughout the month of WALKtober, and it’s not too late to schedule your Walk Your Way event.
We know that with you on our side, nothing can stop us as we reach for our goal of raising $400,000 for local compassionate care, advocacy, and research to find treatments and a cure. However you choose to Walk this month, we are behind you all the way! Contact your personal Walk Your Way coach, Stefanie Daniels, at sdaniels@alssac.org or (916) 979-9265 ext. 3 and let’s get started!
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Thanks to all who hosted Walk Your Way events to #endALS and posted your photos on social media this weekend! We put together a little montage with some of your amazing videos and photos from events across Northern California. Keep sharing using the hashtag #WalkYourWaySac so that we can give you props for being a part of the movement to #endALS. We have many more Walk Your Way events happening throughout October—it’s not too late to sign up and host an event of your own to help us crush ALS! |
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Vote YES on Prop 14!
There are 27 days left to save stem cell research in California. With ballots hitting mailboxes and most Californians planning to vote this week or next, now is the moment of truth for our patient-advocate-powered campaign.
A “Yes” vote on Proposition 14 – also known as the California Stem Cell Research, Treatments and Cures Initiative of 2020 – would authorize $5.5 billion in state general obligation bonds to continue funding stem cell research and the development and delivery of treatments and cures for chronic disease and illnesses in California. If approved by voters on November 3rd, it will help accelerate development of treatments and cures for chronic diseases and conditions like ALS, cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, heart disease, Parkinson’s, stroke, infectious diseases like COVID-19, and many others.
Here's how you can help:
- Make sure you and everyone you know are registered to vote.
- Share why you are voting #YesOn14 on social.
- Vote #YesOn14 and return your ballot early.
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Put Your Unused PTO to Work for ALS Emergency Relief |
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Earlier this year, the IRS released guidance allowing employees to cash out vacation, sick, or personal leave in exchange for cash payments that the employer makes to charitable organizations providing COVID-19 relief. This is great news for our ALS community, and your unused PTO could support the Chapter’s ALS Emergency Relief Fund, providing support to ALS families throughout the pandemic!
Leave-based donation programs are at the discretion of the employer, so be sure to check if this is an option at your workplace! Learn more about the program here.
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More than 43,000 people signed The ALS Association’s petition, which launched September 3 with I Am ALS, to call on the FDA and Amylyx Pharmaceuticals to work together to speed up the process of getting AMX0035 available for people living with ALS as quickly as possible. Petition signers come from across the ALS community, including people living with the disease, caretakers, people who have lost loved ones to ALS, and researchers searching for treatments and a cure. This response is a clear sign of the level of hope the promising clinical trial results injected into the ALS community. This response further demonstrates the outcry to accelerate the level of urgency needed in the search for treatments and a cure.
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Now that more than half of the House and Senate have cosponsored the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act, we have a real shot at moving this critical legislation, but we need congressional leaders to act urgently in support of people living with ALS.
Help us continue this momentum by tweeting at congressional leaders and urging them to schedule a vote and pass the ALS Disability Insurance Access Act now.
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In recognition of National Physical Therapy Month, we checked in on ways this critical piece of multidisciplinary care helps people living with ALS and innovative ways telehealth can be incorporated into the practice. Like with many aspects of life, the COVID-19 pandemic has transformed the delivery of physical therapy in 2020 short term changes that could have long-term ramifications for the practice.
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"My father’s battle with ALS solidified my decision to pursue a career in nursing. As the primary caregivers at home, my family and I were responsible for helping my father with activities of daily living and essentially keeping him alive."
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"When I was taking care of my mother, I saw the need for strong willed administrators to make sure families are getting what they need in a timely manner and with all the resources they can get. My dream job is to be a CEO of a hospital."
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Our Milton Safenowitz Postdoctoral Fellowship Program continues to support young scientists and is the only program of its kind specifically funding early ALS postdoctoral fellows eagerly searching for a cure.
We recently talked with Dr. Emily Thompson from the Rothstein Lab at Johns Hopkins University to learn about her unique research project focused on how the loss of a cortical astroglia subpopulation exacerbates dendritic and synaptic defects of upper motor neurons in ALS.
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COVID-19
Frequently Asked Questions
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The ALS Association has compiled a list of Frequently Asked Questions about living with ALS and the potential risks of contracting COVID-19. Click here to read responses from our professional medical and care services team.
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Thank you to our national sponsors! |
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Thank you to our local sponsors! |
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