Melville Law Firm Participates in Multiple Sclerosis Society Walk

Melville's Genser Dubow Genser & Cona (GDGC) recently participated in the 25th Annual National Multiple Sclerosis Society Walk for the Southern New York Chapter and raised more than $3,500.  

As one of 29 corporate teams and more than 11,000 participants, this is the first time that GDGC sponsored a team, naming it “GDGC: The Lovers and the Fighters”. 

 Sixteen GDGC attorneys, staff members, friends and family walked the six miles from the South Street Seaport in NYC over the Brooklyn Bridge in support of this disease that affects more than 10,000 people living in New York City and the surrounding counties.  Two of the people who joined GDGC’s team have MS and were gratified to complete the walk.

“We help many clients and their families deal with multiple sclerosis from a legal planning perspective. This year, it became personal for us as two staff members have family diagnosed with MS.  We wanted to raise awareness and money for research, programming and support services on behalf of the MS Society,” said Jennifer Cona, Esq., managing partner at GDGC. “To further engage our staff, we created six office teams that competed to raise the most money.”  

The contest generated a lot of enthusiasm amongst GDGC employees for this charitable cause. So far, the Southern New York Chapter of the MS Society raised $2.6 million from the walk and corporate sponsorships.  The goal is $ 3 million so that one day soon they will celebrate the cure. 

 Established in 1988 as the MS Society’s only simultaneous national fundraising and key awareness building weekend, Walk MS attracted 42,000 participants at 42 sites to raise $4 million.  Since that time, the event has grown to include more than 330,000 walkers in nearly 600 locations covering all 50 states, which in 2011 raised nearly $50 million for MS. Last year alone, nearly 150,000 walkers joined teams to support the effort.