Alzheimer's Memory Walk: Coming to a Town Near You : Venture Capital Blog : VC Blog : Venture Blog : Florida Venture Blog by Dan Rua

For those of you in Gainesville and Ocala, FL, what are you and your family doing Saturday morning, October 4 (note: Gators are in Arkansas)? What about my readers in Jacksonville (9/20) and Orlando (10/11)? How about a short walk, just 1-3 miles, for a good cause: The Alzheimer's Memory Walk.

Before I share more, go ahead and stick a placeholder on your calendar for those dates/locations, or check the walk dates near your ZIP below. I'll wait...

OK, now that you've saved the date I can share some more. The Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk is the largest event in the nation dedicated to raising funds and awareness for Alzheimer's -- expecting over 200,000 participants this year alone.

One of the ways they get so much participation is because of their "team" concept; whereby a team captain invites a few friends, who invite a few friends. They are looking for all participants, but especially team captains. I'm focused on getting family involved. You can learn about all the options to help by clicking "Learn how" below -- they even have "virtual" teams, for anyone who can't find a Walk nearby.

Over 5 million people have Alzheimer's and most of us already know someone who has it. If you don't, I've done some research of my own (via About) -- you might know some of these:

Joe Adcock, baseball player
Mabel Albertson, actor
Dana Andrews, actor
Rudolph Bing, opera impresario
James Brooks, artist
Charles Bronson actor, film director
Abe Burrows,author
Carroll Campbell, Former Rebublican Senator
Joyce Chen, chef
Perry Como, Singer entertainer
Aaron Copland, composer
Willem DeKooning, artist
James Doohan, actor
Thomas Dorsey, singer
Tom Fears, professional football player and coach
Louis Feraud, fashion designer
Arlene Francis, actor
Mike Frankovich, film producer
John Douglas French, physician
Barry Goldwater, Senator of Arizona
Rita Hayworth, actress
Raul Silva Henriquez, Roman Catholic cardinal, human rights advocate
Charlton Heston actor and political activist
Mervyn Leroy, director
Jack Lord, actor
Ross MacDonald, author
Burgess Meredith, actor
Iris Murdoch, author
Edmond O’Brien, actor
Arthur O’Connell, actor
Marv Owen, baseball player
Molly Picon, actor
Otto Preminger, director
Bill Quackenbush, professional hockey player
Ronald Reagan, 40th President of USA
Harry Ritz, performer
Sugar Ray Robinson, boxer
Norman Rockwell, artist
Simon Scott, actor
Irving Shulman, screenwriter
Betty Schwartz, Olympic gold medal winner in track events
Kay Swift,composer
Alfred Van Vogt, science fiction writer
E.B. White, author
Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister