All-day rain on Saturday, Sept. 30 disrupted the original route for the local Walk to End Alzheimer’s, but the Dartmouth-based team adjusted and modified their walk to raise funds and awareness to battle the disease. 

 

Staff of the Southworth Library were able to provide a gathering space in the Haskel Room at the last minute, so that twelve of the team's forty-eight supporters could gather at the library Saturday morning, where they received the symbolic pinwheels and awaited a slight break in the rain. The team then began a shortened walk around the library neighborhood and returned to enjoy refreshments and peruse Alzheimer's Association literature and promotional items.

 

The team was led by Marge and Fred Law and their son, Fred Law Jr.

 

Pinwheels were displayed along the originally planned route starting at Rockland Street and Sunset Lane indicating homes where families were affected by the disease and were carried by the walkers on the revised route. Purple is to honor love ones who died from Alzheimer's, blue for those living with the disease, yellow for their caregivers, and orange for supporters. White, the color of hope, indicates a future without the disease, which is the sixth leading cause of death in the USA and is the most expensive disease in America, with more than five million Americans living with the disease.

 

Donations can still be made via the Alzheimer's Association website: alz.org/walk with Southcoast/MA/NH Dartmouth, MAWalks23 as the recipient. Alternatively, checks may be mailed to the MA/NH office at 200 Executive Bldg. Ste 4B, Southington,CT 06489, also indicating the team as Dartmouth, MAWalks23.