Washington boy raises money for Alzheimer’s

Published 7:32 pm Friday, September 29, 2017

When 9-year old Gabe Foreman broke his leg over the summer, he didn’t let it get him down.

In fact, it was quite the opposite. He picked up a new hobby — making rope bracelets — and while it started as a way to pass the time, it quickly transformed into “Little Pungo Knots,” a “business” to benefit research for Alzheimer’s disease.

“He wants to get a cure for Alzheimer’s,” said Mary Ellen Foreman, Gabe’s mother.

Foreman said her son had been exposed to Alzheimer’s quite a bit, as the disease took his great-grandmother earlier this year. She said the death took a toll on him — and he wanted to do his part in raising money. He is now selling each bracelet for $5 and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to Alzheimer’s research.

“He came up to me and said ‘Mom, I really want to give my money away.’ I had to say ‘Well, OK, let’s talk about this. Do your bracelets and sell them’,” Foreman said.

Now, Gabe can be found spending time with his grandfather, making and selling as many as bracelets as he can. Gabe receives orders through social media pages and sells his bracelets around the community, an effort to do everything he can to raise money to fight the disease. The bracelets can be found at Tumble B Gym in Washington, according to Foreman.

Gabe has raised nearly $250, about halfway to the goal of $500. Foreman said Gabe wants to donate all of the funds at the 13th-annual Alzheimer’s Walk and Education Fair in Washington on Saturday. That leaves him with about one week left to sell, and Foreman said she’s excited to watch her son’s kind gesture pay off.

“I think that he’s just an amazing kid. His generosity, it’s very inspiring. I feel like we need to make the goal happen for him,” Foreman said.

Foreman said “Little Pungo Knots” can act as a great example of support that should be instilled throughout the community.

“It’s a good thing. More people should get involved in the community. We can teach our kids that at a young age,” Foreman said.