Walk-A-Thons to Raise Money for Combating Disabilities
Weekend fund-raising walks have been scheduled by two Los Angeles chapters of national organizations, the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and the American Parkinson Disease Assn.
The Los Angeles Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Assn. will sponsor its Los Angeles Walk-A-Thon on Sunday as part of the organization’s second National Michel Monnot Walk-A-Thon in cities across the country. In 1985, Monnot, a Minnesota language professor who has had Parkinson’s disease for 10 years, initiated the charity event by walking 2,000 miles from his home to Los Angeles to raise $300,000 for research into the disease.
Monnot and radio and TV personality Ralph Edwards, honorary national chairman of the association, will participate in the walk, planned on a quarter-mile course at the Rancho Park-Cheviot Hills Recreation Center, 2551 Motor Ave., West Los Angeles.
Sponsors of walkers are asked to contribute a minimum of $5 for each lap a participant completes. Registration begins at 10:30 a.m.; the walk is scheduled to start at 11. A continuous program of music and entertainment is planned. Information: (800) 223-APDA or (213) 825-0587.
The March of Dimes group is sponsoring WalkAmerica ‘88, its 17th such event, today. Walkers will cover a 20-kilometer course (12.6 miles) that starts at the Federal Building, 11000 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood, and continues on a route through Santa Monica and back to Westwood. Registration is between 7 and 10 a.m. Laker cheerleaders will get the walkers off to a peppy start.
Celebrity co-chairs are actress Gates McFadden and actor Wil Wheaton, and there will be entertainment and prizes following the completion of the walk. Sponsors of participants make donations for each kilometer (five-eighths of a mile) an entrant walks. In addition to the Los Angeles course, six additional walk sites will be set up in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, the San Fernando Valley, the San Gabriel Valley, the Santa Clarita Valley and South Bay. Information: (818) 956-8565.