Holly Bennett

"She is still doing the things she likes to do," Holly Bennett, her granddaughter, said.
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We're a very close family," Bennett said."It's like any other family, we make the best of the situation."

So instead of offering just emotional support, Bennett, a Nazareth resident and director of library sciences at Allentown Business School, is organizing an ALS walkathon for Oct. 11.

Called Walk to d'feet ALS, it will be the first walk in the Lehigh Valley for ALS.The Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the ALS Association has four annual walks, but none so far in the Lehigh Valley.

"We were hoping to put a walk in the area and [Holly] was looking to do something," said Allison Walker, special events coordinator for the chapter.
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So far, Bennett said, she received about 530 registrations for the three-mile course that starts and ends at the new Center Valley campus of Allentown Business School.

"We are hoping to maybe reach 600 [participants], as long as the weather is nice," Bennett said.
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Bennett said she hopes to raise around $50,000.Donors can decide if they want their money to go toward ALS research or toward further improving and furnishing services to ALS patients.Bennett's team is aiming to raise $3,000.

"We're doing it for Ruthie," Bennett said.
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"We knew about [the disease], but we didn't know what it entailed, how bad it was going to be," Bennett said.

More than 5,000 people in the United States are diagnosed with ALS each year.People of all ages and both sexes may be affected.

"We wanted a fully functional library for our school," said Holly Bennett, Director of Allentown Business School Library.