How do they do it?

Every year since they’ve taken the cause under their wings, Visiting Angels franchises across the country have surpassed their fundraising goals for the Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s.

“We have a lot of small groups helping. That combined with the support of our national home office is what brings our fundraising to a higher level,” said Stephen Novak, co-owner of the Visiting Angels locations in Sterling Heights, Rochester Hills and Port Huron, and one of the top ten franchise fundraisers in the country.

Visiting Angels is a nonmedical health care company that employs caregivers who help seniors stay in their home, wherever that might be, for as long as they desire. The caregivers assist seniors with ADL (activities of daily living) including meal preparation, housekeeping, medication reminders and companionship among other duties.

“My grandfather had Alzheimer’s,” said Novak, who works in Sterling Heights but lives in Lake Orion.

He remembers as a child hearing that his grandfather was missing.

“They found him curled up in a ball on the neighbor’s porch,” Novak said, recalling that frightful day. “A lot of families didn’t have any kind of help back then. No resources or groups to help.”

Organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association provide support for individuals and families impacted by Alzheimer’s and other dementias, unite caregivers and advance research into the disease.

Since many of their clients are impacted by Alzheimer’s and dementia, Novak and his wife Tara support Visiting Angels’ nationwide effort to support the Alzheimer’s Association and its Detroit Walk to End Alzheimer’s at the Detroit Zoo. It is hosted annually by the Alzheimer’s Association Michigan Chapter.

Prior to the walk the company challenges their locations to take part in one of the more than 600 similar events nationwide, awarding extra money to the fundraising efforts of the top ten teams.

Steve and Tara Novak are among the teams who have earned that title.

“The first year we did it we were just trying to get our staff involved,” said Novak, who worked as a design engineer for the automotive industry before he and Tara, who is a registered nurse, opened their first Visiting Angels franchise.

“We provided T-shirts for the walk and we all did it as a group. It was hard to get people to come out because it was on a Saturday,” Novak said of their first walk but they still raised about $1,500 for the cause.

Then Novak got creative.

“I used to run a lot,” Novak said, and he enjoyed doing it.

So, he came up with a fundraiser that combined his passion for running with his desire to raise money for Alzheimer’s. He called it the 20 Mile: The Visiting Angels Run for Alzheimer’s.

“I ran from my office in Sterling Heights to the Alzheimer’s headquarters in Southfield,” Novak said. “It took me about five or six hours to get it done and it was pretty scary at times, as far as traffic.”

To boost his fundraising efforts he came up with a logo and solicited sponsors that were located along the route, and then stopped at each business during the run to collect their donations.

Also helping to raise the level of fundraising was Larry Neigs, the CEO of Visiting Angels who rewarded franchises raising the most with a cash donation.

Four years ago, Novak climbed to the roof of his office in Rochester to raise awareness about the brain disorder that slowly robs people of their memory and raise funding for Alzheimer’s research and support services. The 24 hour marathon has been so successful (raising more than $70,000) he’s been climbing the ladder every year since.

Doug Hammond, owner of a franchise in Saginaw said Visiting Angels is dedicated to the Alzheimer’s Association because of the countless families they assist who are fighting against Alzheimer’s and related dementias.

“Each franchise location has its story, but most owners have family, friends, or certainly clients that are deeply affected by this disease,” said Hammond, whose mother opened the Saginaw office 25 years ago. She died of Alzheimer’s in 2020 but Hammond has continued her work at Visiting Angels and the walk, raising more than $120,000.

“Both the Novaks and my family have been with Visiting Angels long term,” Hammond said. “That speaks to the character and mission of Visiting Angels and knowing our company makes a difference in the world. Our CEO Larry Meigs is so generous and willing to help others with the funds he puts behind our company to support the Alzheimer’s Association. When your CEO leads by example, it certainly makes you want to do the same. The fact that Larry makes a competition out of raising funds gives each office a chance to make a large impact through fundraising.”

“We are so grateful to Visiting Angels nationwide and especially our Michigan teams for their long-standing dedication to the Walk,” Jennifer Lepard, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association Michigan Chapter, said in a news release. “They should be proud of the impact they are having today, through their daily work, but also for the future, thanks to the contributions they are making to Alzheimer’s care, support and research.”