ADAPT Runs, Rolls and Walks to Free People from Nursing Homes and Other Institutions
For information contact:
Bob Kafka (512) 431-4085
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504
Washington, D.C.--- ADAPT, the national grassroots disability rights organization credited by former CMS Director Mark McClellan as the architect of Money Follows the Person, will hold a national fundraiser on April 29 in Upper Senate Park to support its ongoing efforts to free people with disabilities of all ages from the threat of institutionalization. Everyone is invited to participate in the FUN*RUN for Disability Rights from 1 to 4 p.m. at the park located on the corner of Constitution Ave. and 1st Street.
"By returning regularly to Washington, D.C. where national policy is made, ADAPT has worked with several administrations to increase Medicaid long-term care dollars going to support people in the community from only 10% to a current 35%," said Bob Kafka, National ADAPT Organizer. "As we continue to push for increasingly more equitable spending, we will keep coming back to D.C., but it's an expensive city, so we need to raise funds to continue our work. Our FUN*RUN for Disability Rights is an invitation to people all over the country to partner with us in furthering that work."
Among the celebrity Fun*Runners will be New Mobility's "2007 People of the Year," Bob Kafka and Stephanie Thomas of Texas. Kafka was also inducted into the SCI Hall of Fame as the 2006 Grassroots Organizer by the National Spinal Cord Injury Association (NSCIA). Kafka and Thomas will be joined by the 2007 Betts Award winner, Mark Johnson, a long time ADAPT member from Georgia, who will act as the official ADAPT National Fun*Runner. Johnson, a nationally known disability rights leader who knows how to advocate within the system as well as engage in grassroots direct action, has agreed to match up to $5,000 in pledges from his supporters. All pledges are tax deductible.
"ADAPT brings something very unique to the disability rights landscape," said Rahnee Patrick of Chicago, ADAPT's Youth Outreach Coordinator. "ADAPT has the ability to respond quickly and decisively to issues because, with all our amazing diversity as a loosely organized grassroots organization spread across the nation, we are held together by common values of inclusion, integration and independence, and a strong sense of disability pride."
ADAPT responds to a variety of critical issues as they arise, but directs the bulk of its effort to removing the institutional bias from the nation's Medicaid program; assuring that people have the choice to receive long term support services in their own homes in the community; and pushing for more affordable, accessible, integrated permanent community housing. The ADAPT agenda is a weighty one, requiring constant pressure to gain a seat at the tables where law and policy are made. Funds raised from the FUN*RUN for Disability Rights will subsidize the cost for individuals living on disability benefits to participate in ADAPT actions and continue to be at the table where decisions about their lives are made.
The disability community and the general public have several options for partnership. People with and without disabilities can participate in the running, rolling, and walking; they can sign up to sponsor participants, pledging any amount they choose for each lap around the park completed; they can advertise in the Fun Run program; or they can provide an organizational level of sponsorship. Those interested in any of these options can find more information, including sponsor and pledge forms, on the ADAPT website at http://www.adapt.org, or by email from Bob Kafka at bob.adapt@sbcglobal.net.
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