MS150 bike tour: Your help is needed now

Dear Editor:

Every year in many locations around the country the National Multiple Sclerosis Society sponsors the MS 150 bike tour. This event raises money for the more than 350,000 people who suffer from the effects of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) 'Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs or severe paralysis or loss of vision. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20-40 but the unpredictable physical and emotional effects can be lifelong. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are giving hope to those affected by the disease.' (taken from MS literature)

By now you may be asking yourself, what can I do• Well, since you asked! You can help by donating either your time or money. You can donate by volunteering your time at upcoming events. The next MS 150 event is scheduled for Sept. 8 and 9 in West Virginia. After contacting the MS Society (1-800-FIGHT-MS) you will be registered to ride the 150 miles (hence the name MS 150) in the mountains of West Virginia from Lewisburg to Cass one day and back the next day (75 miles each way, overnight stay at Snowshoe Resort). Both a road (150 miles) and a bike trail route (120 miles) are available. There may still be time to get involved as a rider. Please note that you will need to raise $200 in donations and there is a $25 registration fee and cost for lodging. Make sure you are in physical shape for this event.

There will be both medical and mechanical help along each route at the rest stops (every 10 miles or so.) If by now you are saying, 'there is NO way I can ride a bike 150 miles' (granted, this is not an easy task, you need to be prepared), you can help this mission financially.

If you are like me, you like to know where your money is going. According to the MS Society, each dollar that is raised at the MS 150 adds up to valuable services for people with MS and their families. By raising $15, a book on MS can be purchased for the lending library; $50 provides a five-week aquatics session for a person with MS; $100 allows 50 packets of information for the newly diagnosed; $250 helps obtain a manual wheelchair for the loan closet; and $500 allows an education program for 25 people to be generated. (a specific breakdown can be obtained from the MS society.)

My personal goal is to raise $10,000. Through articles such as this, posters and drop boxes in the community, flyers in several church bulletins and the support of many friends and family, this goal is obtainable! But I need your help now!

The Charleroi Federal Savings Bank has helped by setting up a special account to accept donations. Any amount is accepted and appreciated. Donations can be mailed or dropped off at the Charleroi Federal Savings Bank, 205 S. Arch St., Connellsville, Pa. 15425-3563. They need to arrive by the end of business Wednesday, Sept. 5. Checks need to be written to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

I will be riding for my wife's Aunt Anna, our family's friend Charlie, and the multiple patients that I have worked with over the past 17 years as an occupational therapy assistant.

Who can you help with your donation• Thank you.

Library now has five new volunteers

Dear Editor:

Well, wow! I just read the Aug. 15 Courier, and once again was surprised (astonished) and delighted with your wonderfully supportive editorial about our relatively small but very good Dunbar Community Library.

In thanking Judy Kroeger recently for her well-written and accurate story about us, I commented that the Courier had been repeatedly generous with both articles and editorials about our presence and ongoing needs, particularly re volunteers, and that I had not adequately thanked you.

So, thank you, thank you, thank you!

You covered every salient point...availability, funding, multiple mundane but essential tasks, and the myriad demands on the time of potential volunteers. In truth, we have recently considered being open only three days a week, but your editorial may spur volunteerism. In fact, as I began this paragraph, a teacher and her husband called to offer tutoring and other help...a great beginning.

The Friends of the Library, our board of directors and, especially, our current volunteers appreciate your very timely editorial.

An update - I now have five new volunteers.