<< Previous   of   Next >> Enterprise/CHRIS GOODENOW  (click to enlarge) Team Peggy member Terry Kinner (left) talks with Edmonds City Council member Peggy Pritchard Olson before Snohomish County's first ALS-specific support group meeting Monday, Oct. 13, at Stevens Hospital in Edmonds.

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Help out! See a movie

What: Team Peggy hosts Movie Time with Peggy Pritchard Olson Where: Edmonds Center for the Arts, 410 Fourth Ave. N. When: Monday, Oct. 20. Doors open at 6 p.m., movie starts at 6:30 p.m. Why: 100 percent of proceeds will go to the ALS Association to support patient services. How: Admission by donation.

CONTACT THE ENTERPRISE Jocelyn Robinson, Copy editor jrobinson@heraldnet.com

Team Peggy to host benefit

• Movie night, with dessert, will benefit ALS Association

By Chris Fyall
Enterprise editor

First they crowded the Edmonds Summer Market, then they packed Seattle's Seward Park and next week Team Peggy will jam the Edmonds Center for the Arts for a movie benefit to combat ALS.

The benefit starts at 6 p.m., Monday, Oct. 20 at the ECA, at 410 Fourth Ave. N., downtown. The classic 1948 movie "State of the Union" will be screened, refreshments and a dessert buffet will be served, and Peggy herself will be there. All donations collected at the benefit will go to the ALS Association's Evergreen Chapter to support patient services.

Team Peggy launched earlier this year to support Peggy Pritchard Olson, an Edmonds city councilmember who was diagnosed with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in April. The disease is commonly known as "Lou Gehrig's disease."

The group now has 80 members, and has helped raise the profile of ALS locally.

Group members helped launch a ALS support group at Stevens Hospital, the only ALS-specific group between Bellevue and Bellingham, that had its first monthly meeting Oct. 13.

"Peggy and Team Peggy have brought so much awareness about ALS to the area," said Mary Rebar, a patient care coordinator with the ALS Association's Evergreen Chapter. "It has been outstanding."

At the ALS Walk in Seattle's Seward Park last month, Team Peggy supporters brought the largest contingent.

They were decked out in red T-shirts, red wristbands and red-hearted "Edmonds Loves Peggy" buttons, as they usually are.

Team Peggy is an inspiration to Peggy herself, she said Oct. 13.

"I may be the catalyst for them, but they guys are unbelievable," she said.

The movie benefit was an idea hatched in part because of Peggy's love for movies.

For years, she and many members of Team Peggy have participated in Chick Flicks, a group of women who meet, watch and then discuss films.

The movie choice for the benefit, "State of the Union," was made because it stars Angela Lansbury, who is the ALS Association's current national spokesperson.

Reporter Chris Fyall: 425-673-6525 or cfyall@heraldnet.com