An Inside Look: Walk to END EPILEPSY

To spotlight the people the Epilepsy Foundation Central & South Texas helps, check out our weekly blog called, “An Inside Look.” This week, read about everything that goes on to make the Walk to END EPILEPSY happen.

The Epilepsy Foundation Central & South Texas held our 2019 annual Walks to END EPILEPSY in San Antonio on November 2 and the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) on November 16, a mere two weeks apart from each other. Though the time frame seemed daunting, our team pulled together the best events we’ve ever had.

 We exceeded all of our goals in registration and fundraising! But what does it really take to organize such a large event? Let’s look behind the scenes at what it takes to make these Walks highly successful!

Planning the Walks to END EPILEPSY

            This year, we made some big changes in planning the annual Walks to END EPILEPSY. San Antonio held its 11^th annual Walk at the San Antonio Zoo, and RGV held its 2nd annual Walk at Edinburg Municipal Park, a first-time location for each Walk.

Walk committees were formed in both San Antonio and RGV to help bring fresh ideas and new eyes to our events. With the help of community members and EFCST board members, the development and marketing team turned ideas into actions.

Lizzy, who has epilepsy, put together the largest team for the Walk in San Antonio, with 122 participants! She also helped promote the Walk by passing out brochures and promotional materials at local physicians’ offices. Lizzy also did two radio interviews with Amber, our Development Officer. Christine, with Greenwich Biosciences, is not only a local board member but also served as the spokesperson for our national sponsor for the Walks. Christine stated, “I served on the Walk committee for both events, and worked towards making both a success. As an advocate for patients, one of Greenwich’s missions is to be in it with them to fight epilepsy. My main goal is to bring novel medicines to patients.”

Mary Saldivar, our Central Texas Manager, expressed her admiration for April Flowers, the chair of our RGV Walk committee. “She has connections, and immense dedication to increase epilepsy awareness is RGV. She helped us connect with a fantastic organization, “Girls on the Run.” Amy Roberts, Executive Director of Girls on the Run was terrific to work with and ended up adding about 150 attendees to our Walk. “We’re very grateful for the connections created and increased awareness through the Rio Grande Valley with our event. We are all looking forward to returning on November 14, 2020.”

The Foundation is extremely grateful to our committee members who are dedicated to the fight against epilepsy and their support in making the Walks so successful!

Preparing for RGV

            There’s no doubt that it took a team effort to prepare for two major events back to back. With our main office in San Antonio and a regional office in Austin, our staff had to coordinate every last detail to ensure each event ran smoothly. Our team comprises of a number of departments that contributed to the success of these events.

Mary Saldivar, who is based out of the Austin office, coordinated the RGV Walk and voiced that she believed her role was mainly learning from the Walk last year and seeing how it could be improved. She raves about how the contacts, sponsors, and pharmaceutical reps significantly helped the success of the Walk by going out into the community and promoting the Walk.

“We received a high volume of people calling and wanting more information based on a flyer they saw at a therapy office or the doctors.” Also based out of the Austin office, is our Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, Jennise Burgos, who promoted the Walk on social media and served as the videographer for the San Antonio Walk.

A True Team Effort

In San Antonio, the Development team consists of our Development Officer Amber Sizer, and our Development & Marketing Associate, Ashley Colwell. Amber oversaw the Walk committee and day-of logistics while primarily seeking sponsorships and vendors. Amber, who only joined the staff a short two months before the event, shared that the credit for the success of the walk goes in large part to the participants. Without them and their dedication to bringing awareness to the needs of epilepsy fighters and families, none of this would have been possible. Ashley created the graphics for social media, helped with the marketing plan, participant management, planning event logistics, and designed the San Antonio and RGV Walk t-shirts!

Our Programs Team includes Program Manager, Jessica Strom, and Program Associate, Denise Acosta. Jessica used to work for the Zoo in the education department, so she helped direct people to and from different parts of the Zoo. Additionally, she worked with families new to epilepsy to help them learn about SUDEP, better known as Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, and ensured the resource table was available. Denise’s primary role was coordinating duties for volunteers, ensuring everything ran smoothly and checked that volunteers were engaged with our staff and participants. Denise, Ashley, Amber, and CEO Sindi Rosales did multiple walkthroughs at the San Antonio Zoo to plan out the locations of where everything would be placed.

To ensure a seamless set up the morning of the event, activities and props such as our arch, opening ceremonies, epilepsy banners, and sponsor and vendor tables were mapped out ahead of time. Denise said, “Since our number of registrations kept growing, we moved the opening ceremonies from the Carousel to the Great Lawn.”

Our Finance and Administration Director, Tami Nelson, manages all of the financials for the Walks. “My major role for the day-of registration was to keep tallies of the largest team and top fundraiser and to keep tallies of people registering and donating. We gave out awards in four categories: Largest Team, Top Fundraiser, Top Sponsor, and the Team with the Most Spirit. The spirit award was decided by Sindi, Amber, and Mary, and it’s given out to the team who came the best-dressed. We try to make the competition very fair.” 

EFCST enlisted the help of some interns: Kylie Hucks and Marisa Parrilla, who assisted the development team, and Carmelita Perez who helped in programs.

Kylie, our Special Events Intern, helped with contacting all past participants, reminding them of the upcoming events, and sent out a variety of emails leading up to the day of the Walk. Marisa, our Development and Marketing Intern, reached out to teams for Facebook spotlights. Also, Marisa took over emails to promote our Walks and other events.

Carmelita, our Programs Intern and a student at UTSA, drives to Austin and San Antonio to help out in each office! Carmelita assisted in programs and helped with face painting at the Walk. “I made sure that all the kids were happy with their face art!” Plus, she helped Mary with reaching out to RGV sponsors, gathering vendors, outreach, and other RGV Walk preparations.

Packet Pick-up

We ordered over 1,000 t-shirts for the Walks, so to give eligible participants their t-shirts, our staff prepared for packet pick-up.

Volunteers packed bags with Walk t-shirts, promotional materials, swag, and bibs. Denise directed a team of volunteers, interns, and staff. Packets were organized alphabetically, by teams and individuals.

Still, registrations kept coming in! We could barely keep up with the packets we had to prepare!

Successful Walks to END EPILEPSY!

Amazingly, we exceeded our budget and goals for both Walks, surpassing all of our previous Walks by a landslide. The RGV Walk had 547 registrants and raised over $33,000, and San Antonio had 1,505 registrants and raised over $121,000. We couldn’t have done it without YOUR support. Now, we are so excited for next year’s Walks in Austin on October 17^th, San Antonio on November 7^th, and RGV on November 14^th! See you in 2020!