Angel Kidney Fund Inc

Causes: Health, Kidney Diseases

Mission:

Angel Kidney Fund, Inc. was formed exclusively for charitable and education purposes. Specifically, Angel Kidney Fund, Inc. educates the general public about kidney disease and the importance of organ donation through literature and the annual Kidney Walkathon. During the Kidney Walkathon many kidney patients, the medical community, and the general public come together to learn more about kidney disease. They remember those who have lost the battle with kidney disease and encourage those still in the fight. There is no charge for attending the Kidney Walkathon; it is a pledge-based event. Each year we will have booths from the Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency (ARORA) to provide organ donation education; we have nutritional booths to educate the kidney patients about good nutrition; and we have 2 dialysis clinic booths that do blood pressure checks for those attending the event. There is also an educational information about kidney disease. We line the walk path with educational information on route signs. The annual Kidney Walkathon is held in the fall each year in Fayetteville, AR that is staffed entirely by volunteers. There are currently no paid employees of the Angel Kidney Fund, Inc. This year’s event was October 3, 2009, at Gulley Park. This event was sponsored by local businesses and the general public. The Kidney Walkathon is a family event. We serve lunch, have face painting, inflatables, children’s sprints, a silent auction, a live auction, cookie decorating, necklace making, door prizes for adults & kids, and a 2-mile walk. The walk is carried out by a great group of volunteers (many who are kidney patients), dialysis nurses, social workers, parents of children with kidney disease, and many others.

A website that features contact information, announcements of the upcoming walk, guidance for volunteers and donors, and links to our sponsors is available for more information about this organization. It can be found at www.kidneywalkathon.org.

The Angel Kidney Fund, Inc. uses the funds raised from the yearly Kidney Walkathon in various ways to help families throughout the state of Arkansas. Part of the money goes to educate the general public through brochures. Some is available for emergency grant funds and for research through Arkansas Children’s Hospital Kidney Research. Also, funding is available to send Arkansas Children’s Hospital kidney, dialysis, and transplant patients to Kidney Camp each year. To date this is the only kidney walk in our state. This work is needed because

• More than 3,000 Arkansans are receiving lifesaving

             dialysis treatments

• Approximately 300 men, women, and children in

            Arkansas are awaiting a transplant.

• 1 in 9 Americans suffer from chronic kidney disease and they may or may not know it.