Quick Facts: • Multiple Sclerosis affects over 4,000 New Zealanders and 2.3 million people world-wide. • It's a condition of the Central Nervous System, which disrupts messages between the brain and the body. • There's no known cause, no cure and no way of knowing howseverely someone's life will be affected. • MS Auckland works hard through education, advocacy and support to help stop MS. • You can help too. Go to msakl.org.nz and give what you can.
MS Auckland educates with their new campaign - MS can make easy things hard. Every year in the first week of September, volunteers from MS Auckland hit the streets to raise money for MS Awareness Week. Dressed in orange and often found handing out balloons, they're hard to miss. But this year, MS Auckland is doing more than just shaking buckets.
They've created a campaign centered around everyday things that are hard when you have MS. And MS Auckland General Manager, Ingrid Minett, explains that it's a deliberate tactic to try and make MS real and relevant to a larger number of people.
"MS is a complicated condition, which probably works against us when fundraising. I think people give to things they understand. So this year, we really wanted to demystify MS and educate people around what it is."
The MS Auckland Givealittle page will host a series of videos, sharing real life stories from people living with the condition.
If you're in Auckland: Westfield Albany will play home to the MS Simulator – a special Skill Claw game created especially for Awareness Week. One of the most common symptoms of MS is numbness of the hands, so the MS Simulator looks to replicate what it's like to have MS, by challenging passers-by to pick up everyday items such as pens, kitchen utensils and TV remotes, instead of your standard fluffy toys.
The MS Simulator will be running at Westfield Albany (outside Kmart) from Friday 7 – Sunday 9 of September. So if you're in the area, head along and try your luck, for free.
