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Yesterday was one of the biggest days of the year at the Chapter. Our annual Facts & Figures report garners media attention from throughout the 14 counties and is a catalyst in motivating people for our cause. Here’s a rundown of newspaper articles and television reports from yesterday:

• WSYR-TV (Syracuse), which focused on Clay caregiver Tami Schanbacher.
• Syracuse.com/Post-Standard (Syracuse), which featured the report in its news and health sections
• The Observer-Dispatch (Utica), which had a lengthy article feature an interview with Saquoit caregiver Patrick Inserra.
• WKTV-TV (Utica), which featured Janice Durant, a caregiver from Oneida Castle. WKTV is a member of the Alzheimer’s Early Detetction Alliance and reporter/anchor Megan Koskovich is a member of our event planning committees.
• WWNY-TV (Watertown), which featured Limerick caregiver Yvonne Thompson and her husband Cecil. WWNY is also an AEDA member and news anchors Brian Ashley and Anne Richter-Ashley are longtime friends of the Chapter.
• News10Now (CNY), which reported the statistics.
• WAER-FM (Syracuse) conducted an interview with Tully caregiver and Chapter volunteer Kris Terrillion.
• The Ithaca Journal and The Press Sun-Bulletin (Binghamton) ran articles summarizing the statistics and the disease impact on the Southern Tier community.

WRVO-FM also taped a lengthy feature with Chapter CEO Catherine James and a 54-year-old Syracuse woman living with Alzheimer’s that will run this week.

We also put the call out to GO PURPLE! on March 9 and are pleased to see as many people as we did wearing purple in support of the cause, as our friends at WKTV and WWNY did. We are also pleased to report that more than 75 people became our friends on Facebook yesterday, a trend we are looking to continue over the coming weeks. If you are on Facebook and haven’t done so already, become a fan of our page. Once you become our friend, make sure to invite your Facebook friends to become part of the cause.

It’s been a couple of weeks since we checked in last with our Memory Walk totals. We are pleased to report that we have topped the $328,000 mark as of Tuesday. This is the best Memory Walk season the Central New York Chapter has ever had and the third consecutive year that we’ve broken our own fundraising record. Each individual walk smashed its own records

Mohawk Valley: $43,500
St. Lawrence: $33,300
Jefferson-Lewis: $57,300
Southern Tier: $72,750
Greater Syracuse: $121,500

The hard work of our committees and walkers continues to pay off. We plan to close our online fundraising sites on October 30 at 3 p.m., so get any last minute funds posted so that they will be counted!

Just because walk is over does not mean the money stops coming in. Between matching gifts, mail-in donations and visitors to our website, we continue to raise funds for each and every walk.

Through Noon on Saturday, here is where we stand for each walk:

• Mohawk Valley: $42,940
• St. Lawrence: $33,117
• Jeff-Lewis: $54,512
• Southern Tier: $69,82
• Greater Syracuse: $117,330

All said and done, the Central New York Chapter had its most successful Memory Walk season ever — $317,720.

We will keep updating you over the next couple of weeks on how we stand. Remember, donations dated through October 31 will count towards this year’s walks!

On behalf of the Central New York Chapter staff, we thank each and every one of you for time and support.

We shattered another set of records today in Watertown. The Jeff-Lewis Memory Walk, presented by Samaritan Keep Home, raised $55,020. This beats the walk’s previous best, set last year, by approximately $10,000.

Pictured (left to right) are Northern Regional Director Tricia Bannister,  Diane Charlebois and Chapter CEO Cathy James. Diane was the top individual fundraiser, with more than $2,300. Each year, Diane and her family walk (team Prosper’s Gang) in memory of her father, Prosper Charlebois, who died from Alzheimer’s. Other award winners include:

• Top fundraising youth: Ryot Kern, Prosper’s Gang, $100.
• Top fundraising adult: Diane Charlebois, Prosper’s Gang, $2,377.
• Top family/friend team: Team Vallelunga (Peggy DiStefano), $9,109.
• Top health-related team: Samaritan Keep Home Walkers (Beth Loveland), $4,932.
• Top corporate team: Dexter/Brownville United Methodist Churches (Rev. Patricia Walz), $1,434.

And something new this year…watch the announcement of the grand total on our YouTube channel!

Pictured is Memory Walk Volunteer Diane Charlebois who is selling raffle tickets for this year’s Memory Walk quilt raffle. Diane makes the quilt each year in memory of her father Prosper Charlebois, who died from Alzheimer’s disease. Funds from the raffle support the Saturday’s Memory Walk in Watertown. Tickets will be available Saturday at the Watertown Municipal Fairgrounds for $1 or six tickets for $5. The drawing takes place following the walk.

Walkers in St. Lawrence County turned out in full force today, raising $31,800. This total bests last year’s tally by more than $4,000. There were more than 175 participants at today’s event in Canton.

Award winners included:

Top fundraising youth: Jonathan Hamilton of Bates Eight Plus, $1,825.

Top fundraising adult: Dale Grant of United Journeys, $2,100.
Top fundraising adult, runner up: Christy Browne, $1,500.

Top fundraising team, friends and family division: Bates Eight Plus,$5,000. Team captain Malcolm “Mac” Bates is pictured with (from left to right) Jennifer Grant, St. Lawrence Memory Walk committee chair; Tricia Bannister, Northern Regional Director for the Alzheimer’s Associatio, Central New York Chapter; and Cathy James, Central New York Chapter CEO.

Top fundraising team, healthcare division: United Journeys, $2,644.

Top fundraising team, corporate division: Community Bank, $1,186.

We’ve been thanking our friends in the community for helping us distribute our Memory Walk stickers. Look for them up North at: Bolton’s Pharmacy (Watertown), Dano’s Pizzeria (Felt Mills), Kimrose Medicine Shoppe (Ogdensburg), O’Brien’s Restaurant (Clayton), Sergie’s (Canton) and Valley Peetza (Brownville and Clayton).

Join the Vallelunga family for Ice Cream Mania on August 8 from Noon-6 p.m. at the Thompson Park Pavilion in Watertown. For the fourth consecutive year, the Vallelunga family will hold its ice cream fundraiser. There will be games, face painting, raffles, a craft fair and, of course, ice cream.

The Vallelungas hold the event each year as part of their fundraising efforts for the Jefferson-Lewis Memory Walk, presented by Samaritan Keep Home. The 2009 Jeff-Lewis Memory Walk is September 19 at the Watertown Municipal Fairgrounds. Admission is free, but donations for the family’s Memory Walk team are requested.

A note from our programs and services department:

The Dexter support group will take the summer off. The group, which meets every 4th Monday at 7 p.m. will go on hiatus until September 28.

Find a support group in your area by visiting alzcny.org.

Memory Walk is the Alzheimer’s Association’s national event aimed at uniting communities in the fight against Alzheimer’s. Each year, thousands of people around the United States raise millions of dollars and walk in support of the Alzheimer’s Association’s mission.

In advance of this fall’s walks in Central New York, the Chapter will hold kickoff parties to ring in the season. Kickoff parties are fun and educational, welcoming walkers to learn more about Memory Walk and the Alzheimer’s Association’s work and showing walkers how to make the most of their efforts, either as a team or individual walkers. Alzheimer’s Association staff and volunteers are on hand to answer questions and help participants reach their goals.

The first kickoff event took place on June 13 in Watertown. Upcoming events include:

Mohawk Valley: June 24, 5-7 p.m. at Brookdale Clare Bridge of Clinton.
Greater Syracuse: July 15, 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Chapter’s office in Syracuse.
St. Lawrence: July 15, 4-6 p.m. in Canton Park.

Register for Memory Walk or download our online tools at alzcny.org/mw.