World MS Day
Today, May 26, 2010, is World MS Day.
Spread the word. Awareness is a powerful weapon against this disease.
I was hoping to have a video from my day walking in a dress and heels at this year’s WalkMS, but unfortunately it just wasn’t in the cards. But you can still check out pictures here.
Also, it’s not too late to donate to help raise money for the National MS Society. Every little bit counts!
[Updated the date. March, May. Same thing.]
WalkMS stats
Distance walked: 3.2 miles / 5 kilometers
Ensemble inspired by: Lan Yin Tsai
Height of heels: 3 inches
Size of shoes: 10 (American Eagle By Payless)
Dress donated by: Jeffrey Schoenberg’s AJS Costumes, Burbank
Bike helmet donated by: Enci of illuminateLA and Stephen Box of SoapBoxLA
Money raised: $3,331.00
Members on team: 21
Money raised by team: $12,891.18
Money raised by WalkMS event: $870,792.01
Goal of WalkMS event: $1,200,000.00
Deadline to raise more money: June 1, 2010
Days left to donate: 15
Link to donate: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/goto/corey.blake
Link to more pictures of Corey in a dress: http://www.flickr.com/photos/coreyblake/sets/72157623754072167/
WalkMS – In a Dress and Heels – Yes, really!
On April 18, 2010, it really happened. I walked the entire 3.2-mile WalkMS in a dress and high heels. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I could walk the whole way with the shoes, and seriously considered taking them off a couple of times. But I knew that at the end of the Walk, I can take the shoes off and the discomfort would eventually go away. My wife, and everyone else with multiple sclerosis, doesn’t have that luxury. So I just kept walking. One step at a time.
Thank you so much for everyone who sponsored me – your donation is helping to make the National MS Society an even better resource for people with multiple sclerosis. Thank you very much for everyone who walked with me on our team – I’m glad you didn’t mind going so slow. Thank you to everyone who has enthusiastically responded to this whole thing – every message I received really inspired and touched me. Thank you to Lan Yin “Eiko” Tsai for inspiring the look of my ensemble. And most of all, thank you to my wife for encouraging me and understanding the very serious ‘why’ behind this silliness.
(And… Psssst! If you would still like to donate, it’s not too late! We’re able to accept donations until June 1.)
Click on the Flickr set on the right to check out all of the pictures.
Photos by Rose Kwasnicki, Nahleen Blake and Michelle Hazan (and a few by me).
Tomorrow’s the Big Day: WalkMS 2010 – In a Dress and Heels
The outfit has been assembled!
Thanks to the generosity of Jeff Schoenberg of AJS Costumes in Burbank, Enci of illuminateLA & Stephen Box of SoapBoxLA!
And also tremendous thanks to the people who have donated to the cause, helping me raise over $3,000!
Equally tremendous thanks to the many people who have forwarded on my YouTube video to their friends and family, and sent words of encouragement.
If you haven’t donated yet, it’s not too late. The National MS Society accepts donations for WalkMS well into May, so keep it coming!
To follow along at home, teammate Cindy Marie Jenkins will be live tweeting using #WalkMS @cindymariej.
Pictures and maybe even some video will surely follow!
WalkMS – over $1K raised so far!
For a second time, I have just broken past my fund raising goal for the Greater LA Walk MS!
My original goal of $500 was quickly surpassed within four days of my announcement, in tribute to my wife Nahleen who inspires me in her battle with MS every day and the 84-year-old woman from New Jersey who rides her single-speed bike 150 miles every year to raise money for MS. It is slightly over two weeks later and my increased goal of $1,000 was just met!
Tremendous thank yous to everyone who has donated and emailed or messaged me with enthusiastic support!
What should my next goal be? How much would you pay to see me in a heels and dress? Yes, that’s right. In case you forgot, I’ll be dressing as the lady pictured above. Click the image to read the original CNN article, which helped me come up with this goofy idea.
Here’s my updated and spruced up Walk MS Page. And here’s our team page (we’d love to have you join our team! Don’t worry, you don’t have to dress up like me.).
WalkMS 2010 – In a Dress and Heels
Once again my wife Nahleen and I are very excited to be participating in WalkMS, Sunday, April 18, at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. Thank you so much for the generosity and kind thoughts last year.
With health care now a hot button and the economy still struggling (to put it mildly), it makes giving harder than ever, yet more important than ever. Thanks to the money and awareness we’ve raised, the National MS Society has done great work to move research forward. We are closer than ever to having an oral medication available that could potentially replace the frequent self-injections currently used for treatment. I think most people would much rather take a pill than stab themselves with a needle every other day. Nahleen and many others with MS have been holding out for that for a long time, and we’re really close to that kind of treatment hitting market.
Beyond that, there are lots of other treatments at risk of being scaled back or eliminated entirely either at the National MS Society or in the medical field. Truly, every bit counts.
So to make this a little more interesting and maybe entertaining for you, I’ve decided to do something different for this year’s WalkMS. Last October, I read a story about an 84-year-old woman named Lan Yin “Eiko” Tsai who rides her old one-speed bike 150 miles for the New Jersey City to Shore event to raise money for MS. She’s been doing this for 26 years – always in a dress and heels. The article has this great picture of her in a green turtleneck dress and embroidered jacket. She is pretty inspiring. Then I started to think about the daily discomfort and struggles that people with MS go through every day. I see it in Nahleen every day. Her courage and discipline are also inspiring. So I thought maybe I could make my 3-mile walk this April in Pasadena for WalkMS more reflective of that daily discomfort while at the same time paying tribute to Eiko and Nahleen. And at the same time, looking like a dork. I know I’m good at doing that
So I’m doing WalkMS in a dress and heels.
I hope this silliness will inspire you to give and/or spread the word to others and/or join our team. Click on that link to go to my personal page at the National MS Society to get involved. I also welcome any donations in the form of costuming or other ideas to pull this off.
Thank you for reading!
Greater LA WalkMS 2009
I just got back from a nice long weekend vacation to the Sequoia National Park. Absolutely stunning and wonderfully relaxing. Just what we needed.
While walking along trails weaving around mammoth trees thousands of years old, I was sometimes reminded of the last time Nahleen and I did some heavy walking.
It’s been about a month since the WalkMS event for Greater Los Angeles. We walked the same path as last year, but the Rose Bowl was much hotter. And of course, the current financial End Times made fundraising more challenging. Despite that, our team still managed to raise $10,000. And where people couldn’t donate, they were inspired to support us in other ways, either by walking with us, walking at local events in their neighborhood, talking about MS to others, or sending encouraging thoughts our way. Everything made a difference.
Like last year, the money we raise will go directly to fighting multiple sclerosis and providing resources to making daily life easier for those with MS.
Once again our friend Rose Kwasnicki and her camera was there with us. Here’s some choice moments.
(Oh and yes, those are Nahleen’s feet at the top picture.)
Here is us with the rest of TeamMS. Lots of people came back from last year and we also had some new faces! Great team and great group of people! Kelly Garver (center with the black shirt) was a great captain. Zena Leigh returned with her husband Conor Logan of The Logan.
Of course, we weren’t the only people there.
Hey, down in front! There’s always that guy.
Because of our mighty fundraising efforts from last year, Nahleen and I were given special VIP passes. This gave us access to a special tent with refreshments, food and, most valuable of all, shade.
It also made us frighteningly cheery.
… although everyone around us was pretty much ambivalent.
Once we composed ourselves, we were back to the task at hand. Walking!
We sure look happy and energetic. Nothing can stop us!
OK… so maybe we took a little break. But it wasn’t our fault. It would never have happened if it wasn’t for all that walking. And the hot hotness. And not the sexy kind of hot hotness, but the temperature kind where you get unsexy hot. For further proof, there’s this:
But we got back on our feet and made it to the finish line!
Here’s Nahleen at the finish line getting her Medallion of Walkery!
Exhausting yet inspiring. Thank you to everyone who participated in some way. And congratulations to those who walked. Each foot step is bringing us closer to putting multiple sclerosis in its place, and giving hope and strength to those who live with it still.
WalkMS aftermath
I’m still collecting pictures and recovering from the record heat we braved for WalkMS, but one of our team members actor Zena Leigh has posted on her blog about the day with plenty of pictures.
More soon!
WalkMS ’09 is nigh
Thank you so much for all of you who have donated! This year in particular, every dollar is precious to everyone. It takes a lot of courage to part with your hard-earned money no matter how worthwhile the cause. Thank you also to those who joined our team or are also walking with another team. I’m inspired by the great generosity and selflessness I’ve witnessed this year.
For those who have yet to donate, it’s not too late. In less than 24 hours, Nahleen and I will be putting foot to pavement. Every dollar makes a difference. $1. $2.50. $5. $25. Whatever you’re comfortable with, it does just as much good. I’ve seen first hand the invaluable work the National MS Society does. They have directly helped my wife and I in the day-to-day challenges of multiple sclerosis. If you can’t donate this year, I understand. Your emotional and spiritual support is equally valuable.
Like last year, I’ll be bringing some cameras along. If something comes together, I’ll post a video. I’ll also post pictures.
Thank you for your support!
About Corey
Corey Blake is a goofball. There’s just no getting around it.
Corey is an active member of the improv comedy ensemble The Magic Meathands. He helped form the sketch comedy group Foe Pa following a memorable stint with The 3rd Floor: LA. Corey has been seen in the short films Tough Love (Official Selection, Festival de Cannes’ Short Film Corner) and Hattie Needs Rehab (Excellence in Performance, Extreme Filmmaker 48 Hour Film Festival), the feature film Chasing Happiness, and the pilot for the children’s show “Imagination Station”, as well as on stage in an award-winning Los Angeles production of Chekov’s Three Sisters and Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Corey Blake also has experience behind the camera. He wrote for the sketch comedy groups Foe Pa and The 3rd Floor: LA, providing scripts that ranged from insightful social satire to nonsensical whimsy. He was a writer for the musical comedy Mission: Improbable, which he also helped produce. Additionally, he served as associate producer for the award-winning documentary Dig Comics (Best Documentary, Comic-Con Int’l: Independent Film Festival; Official Selection, Festival de Cannes’ Short Film Corner) and demo trailer for Voices From Chornobyl.
View Resumé – View Headshots – Email Corey
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