Registration is open for the National Capital Area Kidney Walk on Saturday.
The event allows residents, loved ones, volunteers and businesses to join the National Kidney Foundation’s message to make a difference in the lives of those affected by kidney disease.
“The National Kidney Foundation is a lifeline for thousands of patients with all stages of kidney disease and supports thousands of volunteer fundraiser through NKF Kidney Walks held in 70 communities across the country,” said Manish Agarwal, board chair of the National Kidney Foundation serving the National Capital Area. “Our walkers raise millions of dollars for NLF programs for patients, innovation in research, awareness campaigns, and legislative change. We need your help now to give families the information and answers they need to achieve optimal kidney health and advocate for patients who need access to dialysis and transplants.”
Leading this year’s walk as grand marshal will be longtime volunteer Tommie Bennett. A member of the Lambda Gamma Gamma chapter of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Bennett is a three-time kidney transplant recipient.
A proud graduate of Florida A&M University, Bennett served in the Army for eight years. He earned a medical discharge due to a lupus diagnosis that eventually led to kidney disease.
In 1993 he received his first kidney transplant, which lasted 13 years. Due to medical complications, Bennett had two more transplants, in 2008 and 2018.
Despite his health struggles, Bennett remained active in his community and in 2015, he was awarded the prestigious Omega Man of the Year Award, a distinguished honor that recognizes the fraternity’s cardinal principles of manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift. Then in 2017, Bennett’s long journey with kidney disease was featured in the National Kidney Foundation’s Kidney Ball Mission Moment.
To this day, he continues volunteer service to the National Kidney Foundation, raising thousands of dollars through the DC Kidney Walk and helping to engage Omega Psi Phi chapters across the country in the Foundation’s mission to increase awareness, prevention, and treatment of kidney disease.
Funds raised through participant support allow the NKF to launch public educational awareness campaigns that shine a bright light on kidney disease, a national public health crisis affecting 37 million Americans, particularly among communities of color.
For more information about the NKF Kidney Walk or the National Kidney Foundation, go to www.kidneywalk.org/NCA or email Michele Anthony at michele.anthony@kidney.org.