SAN ANTONIO – This year, the Alzheimer’s Association San Antonio & South Texas Chapter is partnering with two local brothers to bring their seventh annual Run to Remember during this year's Fiesta festivities.
The brothers created Beard vs Beans not only to raise money to help the Alzheimer’s Association but to honor a family member who has the disease.
“It can come on really fast, or in our grandma’s case, it’s been a long, slow process of her losing her memory, losing her ability to walk, talk, eat,” Miguel Martinez, one of the brothers, said.
After watching their grandmother suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, brothers Martinez and Matthew Skinner knew they had to do something.
“Being the little brother, I have to pick on him a little bit, and I just thought of a genius idea to make him eat beans, and whoever knows my brother knows he hates beans,” Skinner said.
Skinner created his first donation page with the Alzheimer’s Association.
“$20 purchases one bean for him to eat, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to the Alzheimer’s Association. Next thing I know, in about four hours, I had $300,” Skinner said.
His brother retaliated, but it was all in good fun.
“My brother has this long beard. If I can raise more money than him, let’s get him to shave his beard. So Beard vs Beans was born,” Martinez said.
Since 2017, they have raised more than $19,000.
“These gentlemen did a fantastic job in doing it, so we asked them to do it again this year,” Roy Lopez Jr., Longest Day staff lead, said.
At this year’s Fiesta run, they will also be promoting the Longest Day that will be held on June 21, 2019. On that day, teams use their creativity and passion to raise funds and awareness for the support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association. This was the inspiration behind this year’s Fiesta medal.
“One-hundred percent of the proceeds come to the Alzheimer’s Association,” Lopez Jr. said.
The Run to Remember event will take place at a 8 a.m. on April 28 at Comanche Park in the 2600 block of Rigsby Avenue.