Fred Dresser
On Saturday, Feb. 29, 2020, numerous PebbleCreek Senior Softball Association (PCSSA) players participated in the annual Arizona Vision Walk sponsored by Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB). For those of you not familiar with this organization, FFB was established in 1971 by Gordon Gund, American businessman and professional sports owner, who became blind in 1970, and a passionate group of families driven to find treatments and cures for inherited retinal diseases that were affecting their loved ones. For more information on this organization, go to their website: www.foundationfightingblindness.org.
The PCSSA is a major part of Team Ashley. Team Ashley was named in honor of Ashley Hauger-Rinder who is the daughter of Craig and Judy Hauger. Craig Hauger is a member of the PCSSA family. Each year members donate and/or walk in this important event. There are about ten million people in the U.S. that suffer from retinal eye diseases. Team Ashley has been recognized as a top fundraising team as well the largest walking team in the country for eleven straight years.
The team started in 2010 and was comprised of PCSSA players, the Hauger family, and friends here in PebbleCreek. That first year Team Ashley had 136 walkers and raised over $1,000.
This year’s walk registered over 340 walkers and raised over $34,000. Over the eleven years, Team Ashley has raised over $300,000. The monies raised go directly to FFB to help in their research to find a cure for retinal diseases. The monies raised were from individuals like you and me and not from large corporate donors. That is amazing!
The Hauger family hopes the walk will become a tradition and that a cure will be found for Ashley and for many others like their daughter.