Let’s take you back to where our story began
Our historical timeline dates back to 2011, the year our namesake, Karen Lee Dubea was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. In the ensuing years, Kim Krejci, Karen’s twin sister, led Team Karen for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Team Karen raised at least $60,000 to fight this disease! In 2016, we decided that we could do more! We became a 501(c)3 non-profit and hosted our first event!
2016
Our inaugural year. How fun! We learned very quickly how difficult this was going to be. We made mistakes, but we learned even more. Our first year, we had one event - A Night to Remember. It was hosted at Judi’s Catering on the south side of Lafayette, IN. With very low expectations, we surprised even ourself with the turnout, and in the end, our first year investment of $20,000 into Alzheimer’s Care and Research!
2017
Sophomore year, and we were much smarter and intentional than 2016. We moved our flagship event to the ballroom at Four Points by Sheraton in West Lafayette, IN. We took what we had learned the prior year to raise the bar. We increased our attendance and our investment each by about 50%. We were absolutely thrilled to have invested $30,000 with Joyful Journey and the ADDF!
2018
In our third year, we began to expand a bit. We began to host “dine to donate” nights, pancake breakfasts, and other smaller events. This was the birth of our “Ancillary Events” team - which focuses on smaller, low cost events, that raise a little bit of money, but get our name in the community. Our flagship event, ANTR, was hosted once again at Four Points by Sheraton. We nearly sold out the ballroom, and just about doubled our investment amount: $55,000!
2019
This year was when things truly felt to be running on all cylinders. Internally, we started having committees that would oversee certain things based on the members area of expertise. We took a risk, and moved A Night to Remember to the Ross-Ade Pavilions. It was an incredible night. Purdue Pete showed up, cheerleaders welcomed our guests, and more. It was incredible! We also raised the bar again with our investment of $70,000 for care and research! WOW!
2020
Well, we all know how 2020 went. We had tremendous plans, and they were all modified, paused, or cancelled. However, because of our team’s ability to adapt to the new climate, we created 2 new events: A Wild Goose Chase and a Virtual 5k. These events were absolute blasts, that allowed us to still enjoy the community, but safely. ANTR went virtual. While our investment was lower, this may be the year that we are most proud of. We overcame tough challenges, adjusted, and still raised $47,500 for our incredible partners!
2021
It felt like things are cautiously moving back to normal. We decided to hedge our bets, and schedule ANTR outdoors this year at the Tippecanoe County Amphitheater. We are returned with the Wild Goose Chase and Virtual 5k! We added DipJars that can placed at businesses to make it easy to accept card donations. And, we had our first ever golf outing - Round ‘Fore’ Memories at Battle Ground Golf Club. We had an amazing time! This “Return to Normal”-ish year helped us raise $75,000 for Joyful Journey and the ADDF!
2022
If 2021 was our transition back into normalcy, 2022 was the year that we solidified that! Back in a ballroom, at the Courtyard by Marriott for A Night to Remember, along with the 2nd Annual Round Fore Memories, we had a very successful year. In fact, we are proud to say that it was our most successful year yet in terms of financial footprints - $83,066!!
2023
Here we are! We are looking forward to updating this at the end of the year with more highlights!