KAREN'S WALK!! *more shameless plugging*

Yup! it's that time of year again--the Sunday that starts are 4am before the sun is out and ends around 2-3pm. Just thought I'd share this event with everyone. XD

Karen's Walk/5K run is hosted by PSP (my fraternity). The purpose is to raise money to research cardiomyopathy (heart failure). It started about 6 years back when Karen Decker, a FoF (Friend of the Fraternity), gave birth to a baby girl named Hannah. It was a few months later that she was diagnosed with Post partum cardiomyopathy. She would need a heart transplant. Karen ended up passing away being transported to receive her transplant.

In response to what occurred, the Delta Alpha chapter of Phi Sigma Pi created "Walk for Hannah" to raise money to create a trust fund for Hannah, Karen's daughter. The year after it became Karen's Walk and the funds raised were given to researchers who are discovering new ways to cure cardiomyopathy as well as looking for early symptoms.

Karen's Walk is special to me because it was the first glimpse that I had into PSP as a non brother/rush/candidate.

My Freshman year at RIT had me volunteering through the College of Business club called Lowenthal Group. I received an email requesting assistance for this "Karen's Walk" event and decided that it sounded like fun. I ended up standing in the rain for 2 hours waving a flag for runners who needed to know how the course went. Now, I wasn't too thrilled about the standing in the rain bit but at the end of the day I watched one of Karen's Friends step up and thank PSP for the dedication and effort that they put in--in fact she started crying. I was so touched by her speech and the following one from the committee chair that year that I decided that my pre-disposition about greek life needed to be re-looked at.

The next fall I was invited to join the honors fraternity responsible for running Karen's Walk. and I go in :)

Once in I worked for Karen's Walk committee and saw how much work goes into this 2-3 hour event. Months and months, I also met the doctors that are conducting the research we pay for. It's some pretty incredible discoveries that they have found.

so If you're interested in donating or reading more about karen's walk visit our beautiful website www.karenswalk.com.

or even better--

drop by this Sunday @ 9 and walk to fight Heart Failure. :)

--signing off for now--
dre