FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Contact: Mary Ann Ragona, Executive Director/CEO
Phone: (631) 580-5100
The Alzheimer’s Association Signs GE Long
Term Care Insurance as a National Sponsor of its 2003 Memory Walk
Partnership to help millions of families affected
by Alzheimer’s disease
Ronkonkoma, NY -- The Alzheimer’s Association
has signed GE Financial’s Long Term Care Insurance Division
as a national sponsor of its 2003 Memory Walk. For a fourth year,
GE Long Term Care Insurance will be organizing its agents and employees
to champion the Memory Walk in their local communities. All money
raised will go to support local programs and services for those
affected by Alzheimer’s disease.
“Memory Walk is the single largest fundraising
event of the Alzheimer's Association,” said Sheldon Goldberg,
president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association. “We
are pleased that GE Long Term Care Insurance, its agents and employees
will once again be helping support the 4 million Americans living
with Alzheimer’s disease, and nearly 20 million family members
affected by its devastation.”
Over the last three years, GE Long Term Care’s
sponsorship and agent efforts have raised more than $2,000,000 to
help families coping with Alzheimer’s disease. This year, their
Memory Walk goal is to raise $1 million -- $750,000 from agents,
clients, and others, plus their $250,000 corporate sponsorship.
They are the event’s largest national walk team.
GE Long Term Care Insurance and the Alzheimer's Association
partnership is based in part on their common missions. “Both
organizations are dedicated to helping educate the public on important
health concerns and related long term care issues,” said Buck
Stinson, president of GE Long Term Care Insurance.
The goal of the 2003 Memory Walk is to raise $22.5
million to fund services offered by local Alzheimer’s Association
chapters including hundreds of telephone help lines and thousands
of support groups. The money will also fund local Safe Return Programs
that have helped locate and return nearly 8,000 people with Alzheimer's
disease who wandered and became lost.
Memory Walk is the Alzheimer's Association's national
signature event to help those battling Alzheimer's disease. Since
1989, Memory Walk has raised more than $120 million and is the largest
national fundraising event for Alzheimer’s disease. Memory
Walk takes place in more than 500 communities nationwide; the Long
Island Walk will take place on October 4rh, 2003 at Eisenhower Park.
It is expected that thousands of men, women and children will participate
as walkers, volunteers and sponsors this year. Participants walk
as individuals or as part of a team. Walkers ask friends, family,
business associates and others to sponsor them by making a donation
to the Alzheimer's Association. Others volunteer their time to register
walkers, man checkpoints and offer refreshments.
GE Financial is part of GE Insurance, a global family
of companies with $173 billion in assets. GE Insurance provides
insurance and reinsurance, risk prevention services, investments,
mortgage-related services and financial guarantees for commercial,
municipal, retail and consumer customers. GE Insurance is part of
the General Electric Company, a diversified services, technology
and manufacturing company with operations worldwide. GE Long Term
Care Insurance products are underwritten by General Electric Capital
Assurance Company and, in New York, by GE Capital Life Assurance
Company of New York. GE Long Term Care Insurance is headquartered
in Richmond, Virginia.
The Alzheimer’s Association is the premier source
of information and support for the 4 million Americans with Alzheimer’s
disease. Through its national network of chapters, the association
offers a broad range of programs and services for people with the
disease, their families and caregivers and represents their interests
on Alzheimer-related issues before federal, state and local government
and with health and long-term care providers. The largest private
funder of Alzheimer research in the United States, the association
has committed $136 million toward research into the disease.
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