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Those of you who have worked a full-time job know what it feels like to work all year, waiting for that week of vacation to come along so that you can recharge and come back to work refreshed. Now imagine being a companion, friend or loved one who’s thrust into the role of a full-time caregiver for someone who’s facing a life-threatening illness. Founded by Millersville University (MU) alum, Caleb Walker ’12, A Week Away Foundation (AWA), strives to provide those people affected by these illnesses and their caregivers with the same opportunity to recharge, so they can come back energized and ready to continue the fight. A benefit concert will be held at Tellus360 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania on March 24 from 6 – 10 p.m.
A Week Away Foundation was founded in March 2014 by Walker after he and his best friend were gifted a weekend trip to Ocean City, New Jersey. Walker had been diagnosed with Stage Three Anaplastic Ependymoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer almost four years earlier. The trip made him “feel normal again,” so he came up with the idea to start an organization that would do the same for people and their caregivers who were in similar situations. Walker ran the organization until three days before he passed away in December 2014.
Since the fall of 2015, several teams from Dr. Lexi Hutto’s advertising class at MU have been creating promotional materials to help assist the AWA Foundation accomplish its mission. Here is an example of a video created for AWA by an advertising team in the fall 2016 class.
“If students, staff, faculty or alumni affiliated with MU want to get involved, there is plenty of work for them to do…and many ways in which their gifts and talents can help recipients and AWA, from donating time, talent or money, to providing in-kind gifts to recipients or offering a week’s stay at one’s vacation home,” says MU professor and chair of the AWA marketing committee, Dr. Lexi Hutto.
To purchase tickets for the AWA benefit concert, visit SCYTHIAN AWA Benefit Concert.
