Team Fox member Megan Potilechio with Frank Balow, the inspiration behind her inaugural event

Megan Potilechio is a certified personal trainer, a pilates instructor, and a recent Team Fox member. Above all, she is a supportive friend. On September 16, she hosted the We Believe 5K Run and 1K Walk for Parkinson’s Research, her first Team Fox event inspired by a dear friend with PD, Frank Balow. Megan met Frank about six years ago, when she became his personal trainer. Since then, she has also started working with Frank’s partner, Elaine, who has MS. Over the years, Megan has become their close friend, helping them through hard times and supporting them during the highs and lows.

For the last three years, Megan has joined Frank and Elaine in the Walk for MS. Last year, Frank asked why there wasn’t a walk for Parkinson’s. When Megan did her own search and found nothing, she decided to start her own. At her walk in September, nearly 150 walkers and runners attended, 35 volunteers showed up to help, and almost $11,500 was raised for Team Fox.

Numbers aside, Megan made connections with members of her community also affected by Parkinson’s and has since learned more about herself. We caught up with her to get a first-hand account of her event planning, fundraising strategies and more.

Team Fox: Have you ever organized an event like this before? What was the easiest part of planning? The most difficult?

Megan Potilechio: I have never organized anything like this before, so it was a major learning experience. To be honest, nothing was easy. The sample letters and sample press release were a huge help, but everything else was a challenge. I put a committee into place to help me, and everyone disappeared and I had to do everything alone. The challenge began with finding the perfect location (I was denied by so many places), and continued with finding t-shirt vendors, sponsors, website design, goodie bags, etc. Since I was building this event from the ground up, I had to start everything from scratch. 

TF: Why did you choose to raise funds for Team Fox?

MP: There are walks for cancer and everything else under the sun, but not for Parkinson's disease. I wanted to be the first to start a walk in our area, and Team Fox seemed to be the best route to take to get something started. They are the only Parkinson's foundation that I found that encouraged people to start their own fundraisers. I also felt that the recognition of Michael J. Fox/MJFF would help encourage people to sign up.  

TF: How did the fundraising work for this event? In other words, was there a registration fee, an auction of any kind, etc.?

MP: The money issue made the fundraiser very challenging since I couldn't access any money that sponsors donated unless it was made out to me. So, I set up a paypal account on the website and used the registration cost for the walk/run to help cover the event costs. The fee was $20 for walkers and $30 for runners. The website also allowed people to donate directly to Team Fox. There was also a raffle at the event. I had 32 raffle items and tickets were $2 each or 10 for $10. Each raffle item had a box in front of it so that people could put their tickets in for the items that they were specifically interested in. At the walk, people were also encouraged to donate directly to the Foundation.  

TF: What did it mean to your client and friend, Frank Balow? What did it mean to you?

MP: It meant so much to him. The whole day overwhelmed me with emotion. I had so many people come up to me to tell me that they had lost their parents or loved ones to PD and they were so thankful for the event. There aren’t really words to describe the emotional connections that I experienced with so many people on that day. And, they all asked about next year.  

TF: Anything else you’d like to share?

MP: Working with Frank and many other people with a neurodegenerative disease has been rewarding and inspiring. I became so passionate about my work with these types of diseases that I have decided to return to school—in fact, I was just accepted to medical school after a very long road. I am determined to dedicate my life to helping in any way I can.