b'MS Focus ActivitiesTThheeBBeenneettssooffaaSSuuppppoorrttGGrroouuppBy Marcia HarrisAccording to the Merriam-Webster dictionary,Benets of Joining an MS Support Group a volunteer is a person who voluntarily under- hosted by Cherie Binns, our MS nurse. You can takes or expresses a willingness to undertakend it on our YouTube channel if you were a service. I cannot think of any greater serviceunable to attend. I would like to give a shout-out than being an MS support group leader. It isto ve of my amazing leaders who participated a volunteer position that can benet so manyin this webinar. These leaders always keep others. me in the loop as to what is going on with Currently, we have approximately 133 supporttheir grouphow and when they meet. groups. Many of our groups meet virtuallyDan Loebig from MS Highrollers Support through Zoom or some other similar platform.Group, in Pittsburgh, Pa. Dan has an in-person This allows people from other locations togroup meeting at the VFW during the day, join in. Some are Facebook-only groups. Theand then has an evening Zoom meeting later onesthatmeetin-personmeetinpublicin the week for those that could not attend or places such as a restaurant, library, or churchwant to come again. I dropped in on one of meeting hall. At this time, our organizationDans Zoom meetings, and his group is lively cannot provide funding or yers (other thanand everyone participates in the conversation. social media yers) for support groups, butDan has been able to obtain funding from we can provide the following:another organization for his group.Welcome kits for new members.Monica Proctor Wilson from SPEAK MS, aA Facebook group for leaders andgroup that meets on Zoom and is based out co-leaders.of Brandywine, Md. People from any stateAn e-newsletter to leaders and co-leadersand even other countries are encouraged to every other week with links to articlesjoin this very active group. SPEAK MS stands that can be used at meetings, to free webforSharingPersonalExperiencesand teleconferences, and to our Health andKnowledge of Multiple Sclerosis. Monica has Wellness classes (Tai Chi, Art, Chair Yoga,been the speaker for other webinars, and she and more)and her family were also the models for aMailed booklets on request.yer by Can-Do MS for an event in Lubbock,We can speak at virtual meetings to goTexas. over all of our free grants and programs.StaciMickens,leaderof TheForceMSSupport by phone at any time.Support Group, in Downey, Calif. The group justcelebratedtheir10-yearanniversary. On Dec. 5, MS Focus hosted a webinar TheThey meet in-person while simultaneously msfocusmagazine.org 32'