“It Starts With Sylvan” Raises $1K for Walk to End Alzheimer’s

On April 3, over 400 students grades K through 5 from Sylvan Avenue Elementary School attended an assembly in which members of “It Starts With Sylvan” presented a check in the amount of $1,000 to Alzheimer’s Association Long Island. The money was raised during the month of March and went toward the 2012 Walk to End Alzheimer’s, which will take place September 8 at Old Bethpage Village Restoration.

Students helped raise money by purchasing AALI awareness ribbons for a donation. In addition, peer leaders sold Alzheimer’s awareness pens, shoelaces, backpack tags and bracelets to students at the school’s “Awareness Shop” and sold paper forget-me-nots to grow the school’s “Memory Garden.” They also wrote letters to their “Grandpals” who reside at Atria Senior Living Facility.

An estimated 5.4 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Of that number, 5.2 million are 65 years of age and older. That means one in eight people aged 65 and older have Alzheimer’s. On Long Island, 55,000 people have Alzheimer’s. With the growing number of “baby boomers,” Ms. Malack-Ragona says the number of those with Alzheimer’s disease is expected to increase.

For more information about the Alzheimer’s Association, please contact Ms. Malack-Ragona at (631) 820-8068 or visit us at www.alz.org/longisland.