Laurie Baerwolf and Loretta Herreman at Challenge Walk MS 2015 |
Now that they’ve completed yet another Walk MS, members from
the team Rosie’s Buds are looking ahead to September and Challenge Walk MS.
“When you become affected by MS, you want to get more
awareness out there and do whatever you can to help the research,” said team
captain Laurie Baerwolf, known as L.B. to people in and around Columbus, Wis.
That’s not to say she wasn’t a little apprehensive last year
when one of the newest members of her Walk MS team, “Rosie’s Buds,” first
suggested they try Challenge Walk MS
— the three-day, 50-mile fundraising walk in Door County. (A 30-mile option is
also available.)
‘How are we supposed to raise $1,500?’
“Loretta (Herreman) and I were walking along together at
Walk MS: Madison and she said ‘I think we should do the Challenge Walk,’”
Baerwolf recalled. “I went home, looked it up on online, then called her and
said ‘I don’t think so! How are we supposed to raise $1,500?’ That scared the
heck out of me.”
But they raised it, through a combination of small
do-it-yourself fundraisers and letting friends and family know what they were
doing. Baerwolf held a few painting-themed events and sent letters to about 100
people she knew. Herreman estimated that she raised nearly 90 percent of her
funds by holding brat fries and selling zucchini bread around town. The team’s
namesake, Baerwolf’s daughter-in-law Rosie, who lives with MS, posted a flier
at her church.
With the money raised, the realization of what they were
about to do hit.
“I’ve always been a walker, but the farthest I had gone was
five miles,” Baerwolf explained. “On our drive up to Door County, I told Loretta
my goal was to walk 10 miles on Friday. She said, ‘No. We’re going to do 20.’
And we did! It was the most amazing thing I ever thought I’d do!”
But then Saturday morning rolled around, bringing with it
another 10- to 20-mile route.
“A man we met on Friday said the hardest part will be the
first hour on Saturday,” Baerwolf said. “That’s true. It’s when you think, ‘Oh
my. I have to do this again!’”
And yet the duo did, bringing them to Sunday and the final
10 miles. That, Baerwolf said, was no big
deal.“It was victory. It was emotion,” Loretta Herreman (right) described of the moment when she and Laurie Baerwolf made it to the end of Challenge Walk MS. |
“By Sunday you’re so excited because you’ve done 40 miles.
You think 10 is a piece of cake.”
Baerwolf and Herrman’s reaction in coming down the winding
path near the finish line said it all. The sun was shining. They were smiling.
Grasping each other’s hands, they raised their arms to the sky, a sense of
accomplishment beaming from their faces.
“It was victory. It was emotion,” Herreman said of that
moment. “Walking in, we saw a lot of the people with MS that we met during the
weekend, so it was celebrating their victory more than ours – celebrating that
they made it.”
Not One and Done
Now Baerwolf and Herreman are looking ahead to their second
Challenge Walk MS this fall. They’ve surpassed the $1,500 per person
fundraising minimum already, raising a total of $5,465 thanks to a Mardi Gras-themed
fundraising night in February.
The evening included auction and raffle items, a band, food
and refreshments. The band played for free; the venue – Kesterel Ridge Golf
Course – donated the space. Local businesses donated auction and raffle items.
Friends and family made desserts to contribute, and the rest of the food proved
to be a minimal expense. Proceeds were generated by the advanced and
at-the-door ticket sales. Everyone got Mardi Gras beads to wear.
Step On Over to
Challenge Walk MS
Laurie and Loretta will be returning to Door County
for Challenge Walk MS in
September.Why not join them?
|
Baerwolf is planning a poker run this summer to raise
additional funds, explaining that she and Herreman had set a goal of doubling
the size of their Challenge Walk MS team this year by bringing two more people
with them. She’s hoping that will be her daughter-in-law and 14-year-old
granddaughter.
“We will continue to do Walk MS in Madison because our whole
entire family does it,” Baerwolf said. “But I just turned 55, so I’ll also do
Challenge Walk MS as long as I can. We need to do whatever we need to do to
help people with MS get whatever they need.”