All right?

Yeah.

So, Nick, you're the president of this club.

Can you tell me where we are today and what's going on inside of here?

We're at the South Bend Racket Club on Hickory, and we play a lot here.

And so traditionally, it was more tennis that happened in here.

But obviously with the rise of pickleball and this has become such a popular sport now as well.

Right.

Yes.

And so, so obviously that's where we are here today again, because we're doing a rally against Alzheimer.

So, Amy, you're on the board of this organization.

Can you tell me a little bit about your role and about Rally Against Alzheimer's as well?

Sure, absolutely.

So initially I was just in charge of membership.

Yeah.

Which is pretty exciting because we have about 800 members.

Yeah.

And I just also happened to be a federal advocate for Alzheimer's.

So I kind of married the two together.

And our board really got behind me to run an event where we could raise funds for the Alzheimer's Association.

And so is that something that's personal to you in your own life?

Is that why you are passionate about it?

Yes.

So I have several members of my family that passed away from Alzheimer's my grandmother, my uncle, my mom.

And so as soon as my mom passed away, I just decided I'm going to do something that's helpful.

And I knew that the Alzheimer's Association spends a lot of time advocating to get funds for research.

Yeah.

And I thought, okay, I'm going to work hard to try and help find a cure.

So I'm going to join and be an advocate and tell me specifically about Rally Against Alzheimer's.

When is that happening?

What how can people sign up?

Absolutely.

It is August 29th and we'll be here all day.

The South Bend Racket Club donated the entire facility for the day.

Nice.

And we're going to play doubles in the morning.

It's all women's doubles, and then it's followed by men's.

And then it's a mix, but a male partner and a female partner.

So a lot of people might have passed here just off Hickory and.

And Edison, isn't it?

Yeah.

And so maybe have never come in.

And so this isn't just open to members.

Right.

This is open to anybody in the community.

Exactly.

This fundraiser is open to anybody in the community.

And we have all different levels.

So you will play with somebody who's actually your level.

Yeah.

So you don't need to worry about getting in a game against somebody who's, you know, a professional like Jaylen.

He's holding back right now just for this.

Like he's trying not to make me look bad.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you'd be playing with your people your own rating level.

And we have two different age groups and anybody can sign up.

It's actually on our website which is Michiana Pickleball Club.

There's an events tab.

And on the events tab there's a rally for Alzheimer's event.

And you can go there and find a link to sign up.

And you can actually just donate.

Okay.

And so how much does it actually cost to sign up.

Is there a set amount or is it just donate whatever you want.

So it's $45 to register, and that entire $45 goes to the Alzheimer's Association.

And if you want to play a second event, it's $15 for the next event.

And that all goes to the Alzheimer's Association also.

And again, you know, we work with other organizations that help people with Alzheimer's.

And it's it's actually such a disease that's impacting, you know, some people have it more severe, but they say it's impacting way more people than ever before.

And that at some point most people will get some form of dementia or Alzheimer's.

So this is not something that only impacts a small number of people.

Right, exactly.

And if you aren't personally impacted by the disease, most likely you are a caregiver.

Yeah.

Which first, being a caregiver can be yeah.

Really tough on people as well right.

Yeah.

Especially as the disease starts to change the personality of the person a little bit as well.

And so.

Right.

And I know I'm just wondering if I was watching this on TV right now.

Would I be like, dizzy, like watching this?

I'd probably have to close my eyes and just listen to what we're saying so you can try.

Okay.

My daughter wants to try.

She's next.

Okay.

Do I get an extra point?

All right.

Are you ready?

Here we go.

One.

Two.

Three.

Swing it when you see the ball swing.

Oh!

Good job.

So, Jalen, tell me a little bit about this facility.

And like this club because again a lot of people may have never come in here.

So what makes it unique.

So Southland Racket Club was actually built in 1972.

It was strictly just pickleball tennis and racquetball.

When it first opened up.

And then over time, they have changed the racquetball courts into pickleball courts.

Yeah.

Just because pickleball has been on the rise since Covid 2020.

Yeah.

And so it's just been booming in the Midwest.

And so we kind of had to change up and change the pickleball.

That's why we made these two private championship courts.

Yeah.

They're phenomenal.

Oh yeah.

Oh I love I love these courts.

And we have a whole bunch of pickleball events that go on because of MPC.

And we also have clinics and drills that go on as well.

Just to get everyone an opportunity to get out and try pickleball and play.

Absolutely.

And so we've talked a lot about here, but we're also going to talk to Sarah and talk a little bit about where the money is going to be going and the impact that it's going to have.

So thank you so much for this.

I'm not as out of breath as I thought I might be, but I appreciate you being a one man team over here and just letting me hit the odd one.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you very much for having me here.

Much appreciate it.

Thank you.

Now, it's great talking about pickleball, but obviously we want to talk about Rally against Alzheimer's and where it's actually going to.

So I'm here with Sarah who is the walk director.

So there is a walk actually coming up with the Alzheimer's Association in September here in Mishawaka.

Is that right?

Yes.

So and so the money from this is going to go towards that and kind of boost it.

Exactly.

So the Watson dollar sign happens every year in over 600 communities nationwide.

And we're fortunate enough to have one of those walks here in Michiana.

Yeah.

So our walk will be on September 27th at Central Park.

There's a one mile and two mile walk option when we walk the Riverwalk, which is a beautiful day.

So yeah, I wonder if the goats will still be out there.

We heard about these goats out there.

Goats or the geese?

One of the two.

Well, the geese will definitely be there.

They make their mark very well known on the Riverwalk.

And so, again, not to get confused with this, but we've got the rally against Alzheimer's.

What's happening here?

But again, the proceeds from that sorry, my daughter here and the proceeds from that will go towards the walk, which again, it's great to have a fundraiser like a walk, and then it's great to have a second fundraiser that's actually going towards like boosting that.

Yeah.

So we have several teams that join us on walk day and that's really the foundation of our walk.

We have family teams, friends and family teams, company teams that all register for free for our walk.

They come out, they support their loved ones, they support people that they've lost along the process of this disease.

And all those teams kind of do their own individual fundraisers.

So Amy is fantastic, putting this amazing fundraiser together for us.

And I know that it's something you're very passionate about because your grandfather passed away from Alzheimer's.

Yeah.

So that's obviously why you're motivated to work in this industry.

That's exactly why I took the job with this organization, living that life and seeing what this disease does to not only the individual, but the family and seeing the impact on the caregivers, that it's huge.

So and so when it comes to like a national organization like the Alzheimer's Association, a lot of the time when people are giving, they like to give local.

And so how do you kind of bridge that gap between fundraising local, but then going to a national organization, like, how do people know some of those funds are coming back to this community?

So we're so fortunate here in Michiana.

We have so many amazing organizations here locally that really help our caregivers.

But what the Alzheimer's Association really does is we're putting an end to this disease.

A lot of our funds go back into care and support programs.

Absolutely.

But the majority of it goes back into the research.

We're in a new era of treatment with this disease.

In the last two years, we've had two new treatments come out, which is not stopping the disease, but it is delaying the onset and the progression of the disease.

So we're in a new era of treatment, and now is the time to really continue to back that research.

Yeah.

Well, I'm going to go back to dealing with my daughter here.

I know you're having your own day because your eldest is a junior in high school now.

So we're we're all going through the faces of life here today.

We're all just.

I'm emotional because she keeps hitting me in the face with this flower.

So thanks for giving her that.

Yeah, I'm going down.