TOP Food & Drug raising funds for MS programs

 TOP Food & Drug stores are combining efforts with customers and vendors to support Walk MS, the largest annual fundraiser of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

TOP Food & Drug and Haggen Food & Pharmacy stores have been named presenting sponsors of Walk MS, which will be conducted by the MS Society’s Greater Northwest Chapter on April 10-11 at eight sites throughout Washington. Also, TOP Food & Drug stores are providing several other opportunities for the public to fund MS research and programs. The public may:

• Buy MS Sneakers at TOP Food checkout lines for a donation of $1 apiece from March 3-16. The paper sneakers can be customized with the donor’s name, a personal message or a name to honor someone living with MS.
• Buy a reusable Walk MS tote for $1.99 at TOP Food stores. The totes have been donated by Proforma Mountainview Printing of Lynden, with all proceeds going directly to the MS Society.
• Starting in mid-March, cases of Walk MS bottled water will be sold exclusively at TOP Food & Drug and Haggen Food & Pharmacy stores. Fifty cents from the sales of each case will be donated to the MS Society.

Also, TOP Food and Haggen stores are again matching a portion of the donations raised by employees who are participating in Walk MS. TOP Food and Haggen stores have raised $275,000 since 2004 for the MS Society’s Greater Northwest Chapter. The chapter serves more than 10,000 people living with MS, plus 60,000 others affected by the disease, in Western and Central Washington and Alaska. Walk MS donations also fund research to find a cause and cure for the disease.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system, which is made up of the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. Symptoms may be mild, such as numbness in the limbs, or severe, such as paralysis or loss of vision. The progress, severity, and specific symptoms of MS are unpredictable and vary from one person to another.