Hunts Point businesses support one of their own.
When teams of walkers gather at Rye Playland on April 22 to raise funds in the search for a cure for multiple sclerosis, Hunts Point’s New Fulton Fish Market will be in the forefront.
Businesses in the marker have contributed generously on behalf of one of their own, Nina Fiorentino, a member of the market’s board, whose family owns C.G. Dino’s Seafood on Food Center Drive.
Fiorentino, who is aiming to raise more than $15,000 for the second year in a row, continues to seek sponsors for the walk, a major form of fundraising for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which raises more than $150 million annually for research and to help people living with the disease.
Fiorentino was diagnosed with the disease in February 2005, and last year put together an MS Walk team that placed eighth in the New York walkathon, leading the National MS Society to invite her to the Tour of Champions in Florida.
MS is a disease of the central nervous system, whose symptoms include fatigue, loss of balance, difficulty walking and blurred vision. It is not known what causes or triggers the chronic disease. Some 400,000 Americans live with MS, which is more likely to affect women than men.
Since discovering that she has the disease, Fiorentino has “learned how to adapt towards a new way of living,” she wrote in a letter to supporters, adding, “I don’t know what my future may hold with there still not being a cure for this disease and this is why I am asking for your help once again.”
The Rye Playland walk, one of 586 conducted nationwide over the course of the year, will begin at 9 a.m. Supporters can also contribute to Fiorention’s team, called Help Rid MS, on-line, by going to http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR?fr_id=3770&pg=pfind, typing in her name, and making an e-pledge.
For more information on the April 22 walk, call 914-694-1655.