October 12, 2018

Thank You for all your support!

RLS Awareness Day on Sept. 23, 2018 was a great success! At the Foundation, all of our social media channels were flooded with the hashtag #MakeADifference4RLS. Photos poured in from across the country of people holding the latest NightWalkers magazine cover with its eye-catching RLS awareness graphic. We invite you to view these images in the Awareness Day 2018 photo album on the Foundation’s Facebook page. Here is a staff favorite!

Many members of the RLS community acted on our “10 Ways to Raise Awareness” list, while some created ways of their own to spread RLS awareness. The Foundation emailed an Awareness Day media packet to support group leaders that included a press release, media talking points, public service announcement and RLS fact sheet. One of our long-time volunteer support group leaders, Mary Lou Mennona, emailed our press release to a number of Florida newspapers to spread the word about RLS. The chair of our Board of Directors, Lew Phelps, shared RLS information and resources through a neighborhood social networking channel. The child of a Foundation member wrote a report about RLS for school and shared a photo of himself holding NightWalkers magazine on Facebook. These are just a few of the many ways our community banded together to educate others about how RLS is a serious but treatable condition. Thank you to all who participated!

Awareness and education are so important. At least 10 million people in the US have RLS, yet only about 5,000 have joined the RLS Foundation as members. It is our hope that by spreading awareness during September – and throughout the year – we can reach people who don’t yet know about the Foundation, and offer them the information and support they need.

Although Awareness Day has passed, each of us can do our part and continue to spread the word: You are not alone! Help is available for those with even the most severe cases of RLS, which includes those experiencing augmentation. And the RLS Foundation offers hope, through programs to raise awareness, improve treatments, and fund research to find a cure. Learn more at www.rls.org.