ADAPT's Fun*Run for Disability Rights a Success;
ADAPT to Meet with RNC
For information contact:
Bob Kafka (512) 431-4085
Marsha Katz (406) 544-9504
Washington, D.C.--- ADAPT's first National Fun*Run for Disability Rights fundraiser was an unqualified success, garnering over $75,000 in sponsorships and pledges as 200 people rolled, ran, and walked around Upper Senate Park in Washington, D.C. Sunday. Included in the Fun*Run sponsors was the Democratic National Committee (DNC), pursuant to a meeting with DNC Chair Howard Dean on April 24. ADAPT will meet with the Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair, Mike Hudson, on Tuesday, May 1.
"The money we raised today will support people with disabilities living on SSI and other disability benefits to talk face-to-face to the people here in Washington who make the laws and set the policies about our lives," said John Gladstone of Philadelphia ADAPT. "There are so many of us from all over the country who could never afford to be here in this very expensive city advocating for our civil rights without help from ADAPT."
ADAPT is in D.C. this week to assure that the Community Choice Act (CCA, S 799 and H.R. 1621), introduced in March, moves through Congress, and gets passed this session. CCA will divert people from being forced into nursing homes by providing the services and supports that people need to remain in their own homes in the community.
After the meeting with ADAPT, the DNC issued a press release that spoke to, in part, the "…persistent institutional bias in America's health care system that forces too many people with disabilities into nursing homes and institutions. Dean highlighted the Democratic Party's support for the Community Choice Act of 2007, which would allow countless Americans with disabilities the choice to live and work in their own homes and communities."
The DNC was joined in its sponsorship of the Fun*Run for Disability Rights by fellow sponsors Centene Corporation; Liberty Resources, Inc.; tri-County Patriots for Independent Living; AmeriGroup Foundation; Mark Johnson; Topeka Independent Living Resource Center; Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville, P.C.; Acumen Accent; Cornell Pharmacy; Holiday Inn Capitol; Janine Bertram Kemp and Tom Olin; Personal Assistance Services of Colorado; Alpha One; The Ability Center of Greater Toledo; American Association of People with Disabilities; Castro Enterprises-McDonald's in El Paso; Sovereign Bank; and Yoshiko Dart.
Donations to the Fun*Run for Disability Rights are still being accepted by mail at 1339 Lamar Square Drive, #101, Austin, Texas, 78704.
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