Be my Guest… Richard Parris, MND Association
LEEA is proud to announce it has partnered with the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association this year, to increase awareness of the disease, and raise crucial funding to support its care, research and campaigning for people living with or affected by MND in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
As such, it will make an further announcements on Global Lifting Awareness Day #GLAD2023 on July 13 as well as inviting the MND Association to attend LiftEx 2023 and the LEEA Awards in Liverpool in November.
“Motor Neurone Disease is a disease that affects the nerves that control movement. So ultimately your muscles stop working and very sadly that can leave a person locked into a failing body so that they are unable to move, walk, or swallow and then sadly to eventually breathe,” explains Parris.
“It affects people from all communities and at any one time, there could be up to 5,000 people living with the disease in the UK, and very sadly up to six people are diagnosed each day and a further six, sadly, will die.
“The MND Association is the biggest charity funder of targeted MND research in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, leading to new understanding of the disease, which hopefully will lead onto new treatments, and ultimately a cure.
“It supports all those living with or affected by MND and we have a whole range of care programmes designed to do that. We have a network of 22 MND care centres that provide multidisciplinary care across the UK and on top of that we have a range of support grants that help people with MND with access to the best support and vital equipment they need.
“The Association also campaigns for the rights of people with MND, making sure they have a voice and that their needs are met and addressed by a wider society.”
Parris said the Association was delighted to become LEEA’s chosen charity of the year, because it receives no government funding and relies heavily on the people that support its work.
“Without the generous support from people like the staff and members of The Lifting Equipment Engineer’s Association, we simply wouldn't be able to do what we do. These kinds of partnerships are incredibly vital in order for us to deliver the work that we do,” said Parris.
In terms of fundraising, volunteers can take part in anything from running marathons, to walks, climbs, canoeing or even jumping out of an aeroplane to support the charity and can participate by registering their event on the MND Association website www.mndassociation.org or the LEEA Just Giving page https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/LEEA
“Raising money for a charity is a very worthwhile cause. But more importantly, and especially with some of our corporate partners, it's about making sure it's engaging, and fun and then people can really connect with the fundraising that they're doing and understand, that even small amounts of money, an individual might raise, can have a really lasting effect and impact on all of those living with the disease,” added Parris.
The MND Association also has its own Awareness Day on June 21 and there is an International Symposium on ALS/MND in Basel from December 6-8, 2023, where each year they bring together researchers from around the world to share new understanding of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Motor Neurone Disease.
“Thank to this announcement with LEEA we hope that people will engage with the partnership. We will provide you with a whole range of ideas and wacky things that you can get involved with to help raise vital funds and toward the latter part of 2023 we will be joining the LEEA LiftEx exhibition, where we will have a stand at the show, culminating with the LEEA Awards dinner on November 22, highlighting some of the great work members have done throughout the year,” said Parris.
Click here https://youtu.be/fJW7Sc-xxP0 to watch the video on LEEA’s YouTube channel.
