The Pike County Heart Board met Wednesday to gear up for the annual Heart Walk awareness and fundraising campaign that will culminate on with the Heart Walk on Feb. 17 at Cattleman Park.

“The Heart Walk campaign is so important because heart disease and stroke are our nation’s number one killer,” said Annette Toney, board chair. “In addition to raising funds for research into this disease, we also work hard to raise awareness of heart disease and stroke, which can sneak up on you. There are so many things in our lives that contribute to heart disease – obesity, not eating healthy, lack of exercise, not taking care of our bodies in so many ways. Our mission is to knock heart disease and stroke from the top of the killer list.”

The Pike County Heart Board is made up of volunteers and many of the board members are heart or stroke survivors or have spouses or family member who are.

“I’m not a heart survivor but my husband and father both have heart problems so raising awareness of heart disease and stroke and funds for the American Heart Association are very important to me,” Toney said.

Teams are being formed and local churches have been contacted in an attempt to involve them in the fundraising efforts.

“We encourage churches, clubs, organizations, schools and neighborhoods to form teams and join the fight against heart disease and stroke,” Toney said.

The Pike County Heart Board will sell Go Red Day tee shirts and the shirts were designed again by the Mother’s Day Out class at First Baptist Church.

The Survivors Breakfast will be on Feb. 12 and all survivors of heart attack and stroke are encouraged to contact Toney at 566-7270 to make sure their names are on the list so invitations can be mailed to them.

“This year we are trying a new fundraiser,” Toney said. “It’s a raffle and the winner will receive meals for two donated by the Half Shell, Monarcas, Mr. Ho’s, Santa Fe and Sisters. The value of the meals is about $200 and the raffle tickets are a dollar donation.”

The raffle tickets are available from any Heart Walk board member or by calling 566-7270.

“We’ll also have the raffle tickets available at our annual Heart Walk bake sale in February,” Toney said. “We have other activities planned and they will be announced at a later date. Right now, we want to encourage everyone to form a team or join a team and let’s get really involved in toppling heart disease and stroke as the number one killer of Americans.