Each year, Edward Jones Financial Advisor participates in annual walks to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association. Employees of local branches took it upon themselves to organize their own, smaller event in addition this year.
Jason Nero of Jaffrey, a financial advisor for the Rindge branch of Edward Jones, said he’s seen the impacts Alzheimer’s Disease can have both on the job and in his personal life.
“I’ve seen clients struggle with this nasty disease, and seen them go from who they were to someone else,” Nero said. “One of the things we do is help people plan for retirement, and we’ve seen a lot of resources that they’ve saved for years for their dream retirement are instead going to these extremely high medical expenses.”
Nero said his own family has been impacted by Alzheimer’s, as his grandmother, Alessandra Angel, struggled with the disease for the last 10 years of her life.
Nero, who bikes as a hobby, said he was talking with other cyclists about doing a longer bike trek as a way to combat the boredom and stress of the stay-at-home orders, and decided to take the opportunity to do some good for the Alzheimer’s Association at the same time.
Nero, along with his friend Perry Radford, who works at the Merrimack branch of Edward Jones, gathered up several other cyclists willing to contribute to the cause, and put together a 120-mile trek, from the border of Vermont to the seacoast.
Nero and Radford were joined by Doug Seppala and Shawn Seppala of Rindge, Landon Clause, Thomas Mitchell and Bill Minery.
Doug Seppala said when Nero approached him about the ride, he was eager to help.
“I don’t know much about Alzheimer’s, but I’m always on board for things like this,” Seppala said. “I know causes like this are nothing without fundraising to support them.”
Though, Seppala admitted, the prospect of a 120-mile ride was, at best, “challenging.”
“Mentally, you’ll never beat me, but I’ve never biked 120 miles at once before, so physically, this should be fun,” he said.
The ride took place on Friday morning. The crew stopped at several Edward Jones locations along the way to gather donation pledges, which so far have been about $5,000 for the cause.
Nero said the route was meant to be a challenge. It was the longest he’d ever attempted, and he said dehydration caused him to have to stop about 20 miles short, but the rest of the riders who took on the entire ride completed their goal.
Nero said despite the small amount of riders, the event was a big success, and he hopes to be able to make it an annual event, with the potential for riders to join in on shorter legs of the ride, for those who can’t commit to the entire trek.
If you would like to learn more about how to donate, call Nero at 899-9514, Radford at 429-3833, or donate directly at www.alz.org.
Ashley Saari can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 244 or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on Twitter @AshleySaariMLT.