BECKLEY, WV (WOAY) – The Raleigh County Commission on Aging (RCCA) aims to end Alzheimer’s.
Join team Beckley WV Rocks on Saturday, August 17 to stop this relentless disease.
“This is the time of the year when we raise money for Alzheimer’s research,” said Assistant Executive Director Tammy Trent.” We not only have an Alzheimer’s program here, but this year we’re actually going in conjunction with Raleigh General Hospital and Senior Friends.
Also, the Salon family to do the Longest Day.”
This year’s Longest Day is from 9 am to 4 pm at RCCA.
There’ll be door prizes, raffles, food, games, a silent auction, and rocking all day to raise money. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than six million Americans over 65 are living with the disease.
“Very personal to me this year,” Trent said. “Just lost a family member with Alzheimer’s, and so that’s why I’m so committed to this — not just because of him, but because I see so many people that go through our doors that have it.”
There will be guest speakers throughout the day, including neurologist Dr. Barry Vaught talking about caregiving for people who have dementia and Alzheimer’s. Memory loss is one of the most distressing parts of the disease.
“They get to where they forget their personal things, they forget your family, they forget things they normally did even and how to do those things,” said Trent. “To me, it’s one of the saddest diseases that we have because really, you lose your people long before you lose them.”
Alzheimer’s treatment saw promising advances in 2023 and 2024.
“It’s my understanding that they advance in this every day,” Trent said. “So we’re hoping that soon we’ll be able to just save our families.”
According to the assistant executive director, they don’t have a specific financial goal in mind — just trying to raise as much as they can. You can bid on things during their silent auction and pay to do the Cakewalk.
“We’re gonna have a trivia contest where you have teams of four, and they pay $20 to enter. If they win the whole contest, they’ll get half the pot,” said Trent. “We’d love to see you here. I hope you have the same passion we all have; we just want to help.”
If you can’t attend, drop off a check made out to the Rock-a-Thon at RCCA or Senior Friends at Raleigh General.
