Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides Walk
June 8, 2009
Eric Villard

Kohl's is known throughout the Eldersburg community for its great deals on chic clothing, household decorations, and the occasional low-priced GPS. Lesser known is how active the department store is in the community.

Several employees of the Eldersburg Kohl's volunteered Saturday at the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Great Strides Walk at Westminster Municipal Park. This self-described A-Team arrived early at the event to help with set-up and stayed later to cook and hand out food the walkers. Though unlike the A-Team of the 80s, these members were far from soldiers of fortune.

Amy Williams, event coordinator of the walk, had sent several packets of information on the walk to local Kohl's stores. She said the response was more than she had expected.

"It's great," Williams said. "It's a huge help."

Five Eldersburg Kohl's members volunteered at the event and several others from other Kohl's stores were also present. Altogether about ten A-Team volunteers showed up, all donned in black shirts with the message "Volunteer to help transform the world" emblazoned across the back. Many volunteers were left idling for most of the event, not out of laziness, but because there was simply not enough work to be done.

The A-Team is a volunteer program put in place by Kohl's corporate where teams of five or more department store employees offer their aid to children's charities and organizations. Kohl's matches this selfless volunteerism with an equally selfless $500 grant given directly to the charity.

Eldersburg Kohl's store manager Stephen Schaefer said the store participates in three to five events per year. With associates helping at the events and handling administrative duties, he said, the actual event organizers are better able to be involved with participants.

Getting people to volunteer for the event, Schaefer said, was not a very arduous task. "They do it, they like it, they're involved with it. It's not hard to get folks involved at all."

The Great Strides Walk, according to Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's Web site, is the largest nationwide fundraising event for cystic fibrosis (CF). In 2008, the event raised nearly $37 million to help find a cure for the disease.

CF afflicts about 30,000 children and adults in the United States. The main characteristic of the disease is a thick mucus build-up that clogs the lungs and other body organs. Those who suffer from the disease have shortened life spans, averaging at a little more than 37 years.

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