Mount Olive to walk for hearts Saturday
By Josh Ellerbrock
Published in News on October 3, 2013 1:46 PM
Five months of fundraising for the American Heart Association will culminate with the 42nd annual Mount Olive Heart Walk scheduled Saturday.
The official event begins with registration at 8 a.m. and will feature music, testimony from heart disease survivors and team raffles, and the official walk starts at 9 a.m. at the Mt. Olive Pickle Co.
The path for the walk will meander through downtown Mount Olive before finishing back where it started. The total distance will be about 2.5 miles, co-chairwoman Peggy VanVoltenburg said.
Fundraising began in May when 13 teams set a goal to raise more than $30,000 for heart disease research. The teams have worked to meet that goal by holding raffles, bake sales and yard sales since that time, and Mrs. VanVoltenburg said that the effort will have to keep going after the heart walk to be able to meet the goal.
"Each year seems to be more of a challenge. We are hopeful, and we are anticipating making our goal," she said.
"The teams have strived each month to come up with something new and enticing. ... Even though the fundraising is difficult, the need is still there."
Mount Olive's heart walk teams usually do make their goals. Last year, the fundraising teams, led by the Mt. Olive Pickle Co.'s in amount of money raised, were able to bring in $28,000 to the American Heart Association. That total is more than what Greenville's heart walk teams brought in last year.
"The day of our walk won't finalize the walk total. Teams will have until Dec. 31 to finalize the funds that they raise. We still have a couple of months to raise if we don't meet it on Saturday," Mrs. VanVoltenburg said.
If a team still wishes to sign up, teams can register the day of the Heart Walk event.
"We would love to have more teams. If you would like to come and have a team presented, you're certainly welcome to sign up that day. Come out, have fun and support a great cause," Mrs. VanVoltenburg said.
"We have come a long way for people being able to survive heart attacks and live longer. We're still not all the way there. Heart disease is still prevalent."
For more information about fundraising opportunities, contact Peggy VanVoltenburg at 919-581-3604.