by Elka Worner
Nearly 500 people carrying blue, purple, yellow and orange Promise Garden Flowers walked from the Hermosa Beach pier to the Manhattan Beach pier, and back Saturday morning, October 7, during the annual Beach Cities Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
Blue Promise Garden Flowers were given to walkers with Alzheimer’s; purple flowers to walkers who lost someone to the disease; yellow for patient caregivers; and orange for supporters of the Alzheimer’s Association.
More than six million people in the U.S. live with the disease, and 11 million family members and friends serve as Alzheimer’s caregivers, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Alzheimer’s and other dementias cost the nation $345 billion annually.
“I’ve seen the devastating impact of Alzheimer’s firsthand,” said emcee Jeanie Alessandrini, a Hermosa Beach financial advisor with walk sponsor Edward Jones.
“In our work and our personal lives, we have witnessed not only the physical toll this takes on families but also the financial drain,” Alessandrini said.
Financial planners are among the first to recognize behavioral changes, memory loss and confusion among their older clients, she said.
Since launching an alliance with the Alzheimer’s Association in 2016, Edward Jones has
committed to contributing $50 million over a 10-year period for Alzheimer’s research.
Saturday’s Beach Cities Walk to End Alzheimer’s raised $153,000. ER
