One Year from Today, Minnesota Man Will Do 200 Skydives in One Day for Parkinson's Disease
Kevin Burkart will do 200 skydives in one day to raise money and awareness for Parkinson's Disease. This unique fundraiser, which will benefit the Parkinson Association of Minnesota (PAM) and the National Parkinson Foundation, will take place at Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin, Wisconsin, 20 miles east of Hudson, Wisconsin.
Prior Lake, MN, Savage, MN (PRWEB) June 16, 2009 -- When it comes to helping his father, Gary, in his battle with Parkinson's Disease, Kevin Burkart says, "The sky's the limit, " he means it literally. So one year from today--June 16, 2010--Burkart will do 200 skydives in one day to raise money and awareness for Parkinson's Disease. This unique fundraiser, which will benefit the Parkinson Association of Minnesota (PAM) and the National Parkinson Foundation, will take place at Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin, Wisconsin, 20 miles east of Hudson, Wisconsin.
"Off we go, into the wild blue yonder!"
This is not a new idea for Burkart ,who previously executed 100 skydives in one day on June 4, 2008 and raised $45,000 for Parkinson's Disease.
"I see this as an opportunity to do something I love for someone I love," says Burkart, 37, President of StepStoneGroup, a marketing, graphic design and promotions agency based in Savage, Minnesota. Kevin is originally from Prior Lake, MN. He has nearly 1,000 skydives in his skydiving career, and placed 7th at US Nationals in 2006, competing with a 4-way formation team called Fast Forward. The team won the Open Division of the Northern Plains Skydiving League that same year.
His father, Gary Burkart, of Shell Lake, Wisconsin, was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD) in July 1999. PD is the second-most common progressive neurodegenerative disease, affecting more than one million Americans. Primary signs of the disease include tremors, muscle rigidity, slowness of movement and poor balance. Since his dad's diagnosis, both Kevin Burkart and his father have been very involved in efforts to raise money and awareness for PD. He has attended numerous conferences and served on the Parkinson Association of MInnesota board of directors for two years.
He came up with the idea for The 100 Perfect Jumps in 2007, borrowing the idea from "Jump for the Cause", a skydiving event that raises money for breast cancer research.
For the event, Burkart will use 2 planes, 6 skydiving rigs, 6 parachute packers and a host of logistical volunteers that will assist with ground crew duties. He will exit each plane ride at approximately 2200 feet doing a jump every 5 minutes for 17-19 hours. The day will begin at 2am and Kevin feels confident he'll meet the 200 jumps goal between 8 and 9pm that day. As for the jumps, Burkart says, "They'd better be perfect!"
The objective of The 200 Perfect Jumps is to raise at least $60,000 of proceeds. The steering committee is trying to attract both individual and corporate sponsors to meet this goal.
Individual donors can sponsor a jump in honor of or in memory of someone with Parkinson's Disease for as little as $100.
Members of the public are invited to come to the drop zone at Skydive Twin Cities in Baldwin, WI to watch the jumps and take a jump themselves. A portion of the proceeds from jumps that week at the drop zone will go towards The 200 Perfect Jumps fundraiser. There will be food and activities for kids.
To learn more about sponsorship, donations or volunteer efforts, visit the Perfect Jumps website.
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