PICARD CENTER FIGHTS ALS ONE STEP AT A TIME

LAFAYETTE, La. – More than 25 friends, family members and staff of the Cecil J. Picard Center for Child Development and Lifelong Learning laced up their shoes and participated in the Walk to Defeat ALS on Saturday, Oct. 3 to publicly honor former State Superintendent of Education, Cecil Picard. Picard was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, in May 2005 and aggressively battled the disease until his death from complications in February 2007.

Donning baseball t-shirts and forming Team Picard, staff members and supporters raised money for the Louisiana Chapter of the ALS Association and walked in the 1.25-mile fundraiser around Girard Park.

“The Walk to Defeat ALS is an event in which our staff is always eager to participate and support – and it is a great way for us to remember our dear friend, Cecil Picard,” said Dr. Billy R. Stokes, Executive Director of the Picard Center. “Our Center will continue to fight ALS one step at a time until a permanent cure for the disease is found.”

The Picard Center, named in honor of former State Superintendent of Education Cecil J. Picard, is dedicated to providing high-quality research and strategic evaluations of programs that address learning from birth through adulthood and investigates ways to bring scientifically-based research to bear on public policy in all areas of child education, health and quality of life. The Center awaits the development of its new 22,000 square-foot building, to be built within two years at a cost of approximately $7.2 million in the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s Research Park.

More than 25 friends, family members and staff of the Picard Center participated in the annual Walk to Defeat ALS on October 3 around Girard Park to honor the late Cecil J. Picard. Pictured here are Greg Crandall, Mike Mayne, Debby Mayne, Jing Chen and Beverly Stokes.