Feb 20, 2009
MS Awareness Week (Media Release)
February 20, 2009
CONTACT:
Julie Legrand
Director of Communications
(415) 230-6678 x 2016
Julie.Legrand@nmss.org
MOVE IT!
Join the Movement To End MS Now
MS Awareness Week Is March 2-8
San Francisco, CA—MS Awareness Week takes place March 2 – 8, and the Northern California Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is asking everyone to MOVE IT to end MS now. Show your commitment to the MS movement with simple actions throughout the week.
This year marks the first-ever Federal MS Awareness Week Resolution. It will be read on the floors of the US House and Senate in support of MS Awareness nationwide. This resolution is sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-9th). Congresswoman Lee is a member of the MS Caucus and a wonderful champion of the MS movement.
“Whether you’re a Move It maverick or a Move It motivator, you can make a difference in the lives of the more than 20,000 people who live with MS in Northern California,” said David Hartman, President of the Society’s Northern California Chapter. “There are fun and easy activities throughout MS Awareness week that will make you feel ‘good’ while you do good.” Hartman continued.
To find out ways to be a part of MS Awareness Week, and encourage others to move it too, visit www.msconnection.org for more information on MS Awareness Week events in Northern California:
- Join the movement at nationalMSsociety.org
- Register for a a Walk MS or Bike MS team
- Tell five people it’s MS Awareness Week and ask them to tell five more people
- Participate in “Oranges About Town” campaign
- Wear Orange on “Orange Effect” Friday, March 6th
- Attend our You Tube Rally at the South Lawn of the State Capitol on Monday, March 2nd at 11 am
- Volunteer for or visit one of our street teams booths throughout Northern California
- Download web banners and widgets for your social network pages
- Share your story about how you are “moving it”
- Sign up to volunteer at an upcoming chapter event
- Email a legislator about an issue important to people with MS
- Support the Society – every donation moves us closer to a world free of MS
About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body and stops people from moving. Every hour in the United States, someone is newly diagnosed with MS, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system. Symptoms range from numbness and tingling to blindness and paralysis. The progress, severity and specific symptoms of MS in any one person cannot yet be predicted, but advances in research and treatment are moving us closer to a world free of MS. Most people with MS are diagnosed between the ages of 20 and 50, with more than twice as many women as men being diagnosed with the disease. MS affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and 2.5 million worldwide.
About the National MS Society
MS stops people from moving. The National MS Society exists to make sure it doesn’t. We help each person address the challenges of living with MS. In 2007 alone, through our national office and our 50 state network of chapters, we devoted over $136 million to programs that enhanced more than one million lives to move us closer to a world free of MS. The Society also invested more than $46 million to support 440 research projects around the world. We are people who want to do something about MS NOW. Join the movement at nationalMSsociety.org.