Respond #2: Make Purple your new color

Every 70 seconds someone develop Alzheimer’s. Do you know that this disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States and the fifth leading cause of death for those aged 65 and older? Now, you know.

Helping us to fight this we have the Alzheimer Association  that is a non-profit organization founded in 1980, with the purpose of researching the disease, provide support for all affected and reduce the risk of dementia. As part of their efforts every year they make the Memory Walk, which is the biggest and most important national event to create awareness and raise funds for Alzheimer’s support and research. The walking is a calling for action.

This walk takes place in every state at different dates; people can participate as individuals, create groups or join a group. The mindset behind the walk relates to the epidemic mentioned by Gladwell : “relying along the way on a small number of very special people”.  The philosophy of the event is to motivate one person to invite three others, and these three persons to invite three more each, and so on… 

Once people join the walk, they are supposed to start raising funds for the cause. It is a competition of teams; they all have to use their connections and abilities to motivate people to donate. When an individual or team raises more than $100, they receive a free the T-Shirt of the event; the T-shirts can also be purchased online ($12.99).  The shirt’s design incorporates different compelling words: MOVE (be on the move to end Alzheimer’s), VOICE (be the voice of someone that has Alzheimer’s), ACT (take action to fight Alzheimer’s), WALK (for the cause), OPEN (be exposed to the facts and create awareness).  The color is: PURPLE

The shirt is fun, and it can be a fashion statement; it can also be a conversation piece - people may ask about the shirt and start a dialogue about the cause. If you are a good salesman, people are going to donate or help spread the word. At the end, that’s what we want. 

The strategy of the Memory Walk brings together a lot of people.  You should join!

My grandmother die with Alzheimer and I can assure you that is not at all a fun or easy scene. We have to be more aware of what is going on and do something. This Association makes a lot of advocate; we can join them and help. In my perception advocate is one of the biggest grassroots techniques, because generate an action for the masses. The people fight for change policies; lobbies for better benefits and try to make the government more aware of the cause.

I already wear PURPLE, and you?