The story of LMJ’s
When Team Lost Souls brought in over $104,000 in 2022… we knew it was time to change things around.
Lost Souls was born in 2009 as a Team to support the Walk To End Alzheimer’s and the Alzheimer’s Association. The team was born out of a need to take some control back from a disease in which we had NO CONTROL OVER.
President of LMJ’s Lost Souls, Kari-Ann Ryan started the team with very little knowledge about what the association did… but one thing she did know was she had to do something. Her Grandmother, Laverne had been dealing with this disease for many years at this point. There was no cure and no way for Kari-Ann to help her so she decided to start a walk team and see where it led. Her grandmother passed in 2016 after a 13 plus year battle with the disease. Kari-Ann witnessed first hand all the stages, hardships, battles, and ugliness that went along with Alzheimer’s Disease.
In 2015, Vice President of LMJ’s Lost Souls, Matt Harrold joined the team and quickly got very involved. His mom had been diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. Similar to Kari-Ann, Matt had no idea where to go or what to do and so he was welcomed with open arms to the team. Matt’s mom, Mary Jo was afflicted with this disease way too young and it escalated fast. She was taken from his family at the age of 62. He runs an amazing Golf outing in her name since 2016 bringing on average 30K a year for the cause.
Laverne and Mary Jo make up the core purpose of our cause LMJ.
Secretary of LMJ’s Lost Souls, Lori Urbaniec had chosen much of her career to focus on fundraising within local business communities via her position within a chamber of commerce. As her network grew, she met Kari-Ann who introduced her to Lost Souls fundraising events and then later she met Matt as well and supported both in their fight against Alzheimer’s. At the time, this disease was one she had not much personal experience with, but soon, as many of us have experienced, it hit closer to home. Losing her husband’s uncle, best friends family members and most recently, now her mother-in-law currently in memory care, it was time for her to make a much bigger difference and get more involved.
As you can see, the three board members are ‘all in” when it comes to fighting this disease. But it takes many to make a difference like Team Lost Souls has accomplished. We have many committed team members that have been a core part of Team Lost Souls for many years in addition to Matt and Kari-Ann. As the #1 team in the state for the past few years and ended 2022 around #14 in the Nation, they are definitely on a mission. With the help of personal donations and event fundraising the team does amazing things. Learn about our core group of Team Advocates on our website and watch for articles that outline their personal stories in the coming months.
Thank you for being a part of this new journey and we look forward to engaging with you in the near future as we all are in this fight together. #endalz #alzsucks #lostsoulsendalz
Matt, Kari-Ann & Lori
This was from an event early on in the teams history before LMJ’s was a thought. The three board members have always worked well together.