UCP of San Joaquin, Calaveras & Amador Counties celebrated the completion of the
World Cerebral Palsy Challenge today. The World CP Challenge is a four-week fitness event to raise awareness and support for the estimated 17 million people living with cerebral palsy around the world. This year, more than 640 teams and 1,900 people participated.
San Joaquin County had 67 teams, raising more than $19,000. Combined, these teams took 42,043,112 steps with team "Full-Timers" taking 1st place in the USA with 3,238,225 steps. Eighty percent of the $19,000 will apply to services right here in San Joaquin, Calaveras and Amador counties. 10% will go towards worldwide research and development of cerebral palsy and the balance will be used towards administrative costs. In the United States alone $173,628 were donated with worldwide totals reaching over $1.5 million.
Ray Call, CEO of United Cerebral Palsy of San Joaquin, Calaveras and Amador Counties was elated with the participation of sponsors, employees and customers for the first year running this fundraiser, “This has been an all-inclusive event where everyone can participate. And that’s what UCP is all about - helping people live Life Without Limits and being included in their community. I’d like to thank our sponsors, as well as, those who donated and participated as a team member."
Throughout the month of September, these teams competed by challenging themselves to take 10,000 steps each day. Each of the steps—or bike rides, or yoga classes, or physical therapy sessions, as nearly any activity can be counted—propelled the teams up virtual mountains and tracked their progress. Teams could compare their progress against others from around the world, racing each other up the world’s seven tallest peaks and spurring their efforts to new heights. Together, the teams combined to raise more than $140,000 in the United States and over $1.2 million worldwide.
The end of the World CP Challenge coincides with World Cerebral Palsy Day, an international day of awareness and innovation contest to change the world for people with cerebral palsy. People around the world are being asked to suggest something that if developed, adapted or changed, would make life easier for people with CP and other disabilities. They can be for something simple, or more complex, like last year’s winning idea, a solar-powered wheelchair. At the end of October, three ideas will be selected for the shortlist—and inventors, creators and hackers will have the chance to bring your ideas to life.