Community Corner

For the 20th Time, Norcross Businessman Walked for MS

The top Georgia earner for the charity last year, he donned a number "1" with pride.

Last weekend, Chuck Paul gathered his closest friends for a walk in Piedmont Park. He was wearing the number “1” not because he had crossed a finish line first, but because he was the top Atlanta earner last year for the charity Walk MS.

He brought in $12,261 in 2010, landing him first in a list of Top 100 earners. For his 20th year in the walk, he hopes to raise $20,000. The funds go to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, funding research, programs, education and services.

The purpose is personal for Paul: His Beta Theta Pi fraternity brother at SMU has the debilitating disease. “I saw him deteriorate,” said Paul, going from a cane, to a wheelchair to not being able to use any of his limbs.

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Paul’s Norcross business, A Closer Look, a “mystery shopper” and market research firm, has become a corporate sponsor of sorts, says Paul, and his friends have really galvanized around the cause, making it more of a community effort than a personal one. 

One of the secrets to their fundraising success is that A Closer Look gives the shoppers the option to donate some money from their reimbursements to the cause—then the company matches that amount for a certain time period.

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Since 1991, when Paul began to walk in the annual fundraising event, he’s earned an estimated $150,000 for MS research. He said he has been among the top 10 earners several years. “I used to stress about being first,” said Paul. “But whatever it is, it is. You raise the money and have a good time. “

And that’s another key to his fundraising prowess: Make it fun. Because there are always a few friends who can’t make it to Piedmont for whatever reason, Paul started throwing a party at his home afterward to bring even more attention--and checks--to the cause. The annual Beer and Brats party has become a tradition as much as the walk, he says.

The donations for this year’s walk will continue through May. You make contributions online right here: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?team_id=238106&fr_id=16042&pg=team


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