Heart disease is the No. 1 killer in Muskogee County and the No. 3 killer in Oklahoma.

Last Saturday the American Heart Association Heartwalk was held at Indian Bowl. This fun event is a major fund-raiser for the fight against heart disease. Thirty-one terrific teams participated in the walk (in cold rain) raising over $22,000, our most successful walk ever.

An event like this requires a lot of teamwork. We could not have done it without the help of Bobby Jefferson and Muskogee Public Schools for allowing us to use Indian Bowl, Big Boom Entertainment for providing “music to walk by,” Victoria Lewis, Muskogee High School Jr. ROTC, Muskogee County Health Department, Muskogee Phoenix, Subway for providing sandwiches for the walkers and Oklahoma Blood Institute for providing water for all of the walkers.

Our corporate sponsors were ORS-Nasco, Creek Nation Casino, Muskogee Federal Credit Union, Armstrong Bank, Citizens Security Bank, Care ATC, First National Bank, Northeastern State University and Green Country Mortgage Corp.

A very heartfelt thank you to Jennifer Lightle of the American Heart Association for her guidance and constant enthusiasm. She is our biggest fan and we love her. Money raised at this walk is vital to reducing the number of deaths here in Muskogee County. We look forward to working with all of you next year — rain or shine.

Delsie Lewis, event co-chair

Muskogee