Event Details
What: 2023 Walk to Defeat ALS® Willamette Valley
When: 05/07/2023
Where: ALTON BAKER STATE PARK, Eugene
EVENT QUESTIONS
1. Who Can Participate in the Walk?
Anyone and everyone can become part of the fight against ALS by joining a local Walk to Defeat ALS. All
Walk routes are wheelchair accessible and Walk Day activities include something for all ages!
2. Is There a Fee to Participate?
There is NO FEE to participate in the Walk to
Defeat ALS but fundraising is encouraged. Funds raised contribute to local care service programs, global
ALS research, and nationwide advocacy. Walk participants can raise anywhere from $100 to $100,000
dollars - the sky is the limit!
3. How Do I Register for the Walk?
Registering for your local Walk to Defeat ALSTM is quick, easy and can be done from the
comfort of your home in 4 easy steps!
- First, visit defeatalsoregon.org
and select the Walk location you would like to join.
- Next, select Register and decide if you’re participating as a member of a
Walk Team, Individual Walker or Virtual Walker.
- Complete the appropriate Online Registration Form to become an official participant of your local
Walk!!
- Once you’ve registered, you’ll receive access to your online fundraising Participant
Center, where you can update your personal page, connect your Walk fundraiser to Facebook, and send
emails asking for support.
4. What is a Walk Team?
Anyone can create a team and invite their family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers to join the
movement. Each person will have access to their own personal fundraising page and online fundraising
center where they can reach out to their networks to help broaden their reach and impact. All the funds
raised will be credited towards the team. Walk Teams and their fundraising efforts drive the success of
a Walk. The more members you have on your team directly correlates with an increased opportunity for fundraising and awareness of ALS, so starting a team is a very impactful way to help our ALS community.
There are three primary types of Walk Teams:
- Friends and Family Walk Teams: A Friends and Family Walk Team is typically created
by family members and friends whose lives have been personally touched by ALS. These teams usually
walk in honor or in memory of a loved one with ALS.
- Corporate Walk Teams: A Corporate Walk Team is created when a company wants to
support The ALS Association’s mission by participating in the Walk. These teams are generally
made up of coworkers and their family and friends. Corporate Teams may or may not have a personal
connection to ALS, but they are all dedicated to improving the lives of those touched by the disease.
- Other Walk Teams: If you are not forming a Friends and Family or Corporate Walk
Team, as described above, your Walk team might fall under the "Other" heading. "Other" Walk Teams
include school teams, fraternity/sorority teams - any type of team that would like to join the fight
against ALS.
5. What is a Team Captain?
A Team Captain is the lead organizer and motivator for a Walk to Defeat ALS Team. Team Captains are
responsible for recruiting people to join their Walk Team, naming their team, setting a team fundraising
goal and continually communicating with and encouraging team members prior to and during Walk Day. Team
Captains are The ALS Association’s primary contact to the Walk Team; he/she will receive ongoing
information and updates from our office during the months leading to Walk Day. Each Walk Team must have
a Team Captain.
6. What is a Team participant?
Team participants are individuals who participate in the Walk to Defeat ALS as part of a Walk Team.
Team participants communicate regularly with their Team Captain and encourage friends and family to
support the Walk and their team using their online fundraising participant center or other fundraising
methods.
7. What is a Fundraising Walker?
Fundraising Walkers choose to participate as a single member of their local Walk to Defeat ALS rather
than joining a Walk team. Fundraising walkers also have access to all the fundraising tools in the online
fundraising participant center. Select this participation type if you plan to join the event in-person and fundraise.
8. What is a Virtual Walker?
People who choose to participate as Virtual Walkers do not physically attend Walk Day. Virtual Walkers
can participate on a team or as an individual. However, Virtual Walkers still must register for the Walk
in order to have access to the tools in the online fundraising participant center. This is a great
option for supporters who do not live close to their preferred Walk location or cannot attend Walk Day.
9. Where/When Should Walk Donations Be Submitted?
As you begin collecting Walk donations, we encourage you to send all contributions to The ALS
Association Chapter office prior to the Walk.
However, there are other options for submitting donations:
- Encourage online donations! Online donations made directly to your personal Walk
web page are instantly attributed to your personal and Walk Team fundraising goal. No additional steps
are necessary. We suggest using the tools in your online fundraising participant center to create a
custom URL link you can share with friends and family to take them right to your donation page!
- Bring all your donations to the Registration Area on Walk Day. Simply collect contributions from friends and family members, and turn them in to one of the volunteers working at the Registration and Donation Tent areas. They will file them in the appropriate folder and add them to your total donation amount in the week after the Walk.
All donations received after Walk Day should be mailed to The ALS Association Chapter office at 825 NE Multnomah St., Suite 940, Portland OR 97232. Checks should indicate which walk the funds are for in the memo area.
10. What is Unlock ALS?
The ALS Association launched Unlock ALS at Walk events in 2018 to provide participants with a tangible
way to recognize the real reasons we Walk to Defeat ALS. At each Walk event, participants select a
lanyard in one of four colors to represent their connection to ALS, receive a branded key, and join in on a
meaningful opening ceremony. Unlock ALS provides a way to honor all those living with ALS in our
community and throughout the world, and a reminder that the key to Unlocking ALS, the key to a cure
begins with us. Read more about Unlock ALS.
11. I Forgot My Username and Password.
Remember that your username and password are case sensitive. Click here to find
your password. You will receive an e-mail with your username and password. If you don’t receive an
email or have trouble resetting your password, contact your Walk coordinator and he/she can reset it for
you!
12. How Do I Change My Username and/or Password?
First, login to the site using your username and password. Once logged in you will see a link at the
top of the page called "Update My Profile". Once in your profile, you will be able to update your
contact information, e-mail address, preferences, username and password. All changes will be made to
your account immediately. There is no need to sign in again.
13. Is My Personal Information Secure?
Blackbaud, the company that powers The ALS Association’s Walk to Defeat ALS website, makes every
effort to protect your personal contact and credit card information. They use industry-standard SSL
encryption techniques to make sure your credit card information, passwords and personal information
travel securely over the Internet. Blackbaud also installed an encryption engine on our database server
so your data is securely stored within our offices as well.
14. How are Credit Card Transactions Handled?
Credit card information is not stored in our database. During the donation process, we send an
individual’s credit card information to an online processing terminal using a secure connection.
The information passed back is an approval or denial for the credit card donation.
FUNDRAISING CENTER
1. What is the Online Fundraising Center?
Also called the Participant Center, your online fundraising center is your go-to place for Walk to
Defeat ALS fundraising! You can upload your contacts, send out emails asking for gifts using our
pre-written templates, update your personal page story, photo, and video, and connect your fundraiser
to Facebook all in one place!
2. How can I access my online fundraising center?
When you’re on the home page for your event, you’ll see an option in the top right that
says either “Fundraise” or “Login to Fundraise”. Click that option and
you’ll be taken to your participant center or prompted to log in. Because the participant center
contains private information, like your contacts, it is a secure site and you must log in to access it.
For help logging in, contact your Walk Coordinator.
3. How do I use the online fundraising center?
Once you log in, just follow the prompts to use the tools! If you run into any issues, you can seek
help in one of three ways:
4. Why should I use my online fundraising center?
The participant center has tons of tools that make it easy to fundraise for the Walk! Not sure what
to say when asking for support? Use one of our custom templates! Want to share your URL on social
media? You can easily copy and paste it from your participant center. Have a photo of the reason
you’re walking that you want to share? Upload it to your personal page.
People who take these actions raise on average 20 times more than those who don’t. Imagine how
much more of an impact we could have if everyone raised 20 times more!?
5. What is the Social Sharing Center?
The Social Sharing Center is a part of your participant center that has images and suggested posts
you can easily share on social media. Just copy the content with a link to your personal fundraising
page and post the image or status on the social media platform of your choice!
6. How do I fundraise through Facebook?
- Log onto the Walk to Defeat ALS website to get access to your participant center: walktodefeatalsoregon.org. If you are unsure of what your username and password is, please feel free to email walk@alsoregon.org
- Once you log in, scroll down and on the right side there will be a blue window asking if you want to connect your Facebook to your fundraising page. Simply click “Edit Fundraiser Content.”
- Edit the automated message you want to post on your Facebook page and click “Connect.” Make sure your popups are unblocked for the next step. The message you write will only be posted to your Facebook page and will not make any edits to your personal page on the walk website.
- Another window will appear. Click “continue as YOUR NAME,” then click “Okay”
- You should be connected through your participant center and can begin fundraising!