Agency hoping MS Super Walk draws 400 people

By Elise Franco

efranco@vindy.com

Youngstown

The Multiple Sclerosis Services Agency hopes to draw in about 400 people for the 19th annual MS Super Walk.

Joseph Chevraux, the agency’s executive director, said every penny raised is crucial to the agency’s ability to provide services to the more than 800 residents with MS registered in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

“All money raised goes to provide services to the people in the Mahoning Valley with MS,” he said. “All of our services are free to MS patients, and this is one of the ways we raise money for those services.”

Chevraux said this year’s 4-mile MS Walk is at 10 a.m. Sept. 26 in the Wick Recreation Area of Mill Creek MetroParks in Youngstown. Registration begins at 9 a.m. the day of the event.

He said the agency’s annual budget is about $100,000, and the walk usually raises around $20,000.

“There are a lot of good people in the Mahoning Valley to support us and step up to the plate,” he said,

Chevraux said he hopes to see about 400 walkers on the day of the event. He said participants are asked to raise money. Those who raise between $75 and $125 will receive a Super Walk T-shirt, and those who raise $125 or more get a Super Walk sweat shirt.

Chevraux said the money raised during this year’s event will go toward getting a new therapeutic horseback-riding program up and running.

“We’re looking at about $175 per rider, per six-week session,” he said. “It will be free for participants, so the money we raise [during the walk] will go to pay for that $175 fee.”

He said he’d like to have to program open by Nov. 1.

“The success of our programs depends on the goodness of people’s hearts to help somebody less fortunate,” Chevraux said.

For more information or to sign up for the walk, contact the MS Services Agency at 330-792-8900.