BECU Member In Cross-Country Drive For MSBy Wheelchair

SEATTLE - (05/24/06) -- Boeing Employees CU will hand theball over to Carlo Magno for the credit union member’scross-country jaunt to raise $1 million for Multiple Sclerosisresearch during the June 5th BECU Family Night at major leaguebaseball’s Safeco Park. The $6 billion credit union invitedMagno, a BECU member and paraplegic sufferer of MS, to throw outthe first pitch at next Thursday’s game between the SeattleMariners and the Kansas City Royals before he embarks on atranscontinental journey to New York by electric wheelchair tobenefit MS research. "This gives Carlos greater exposure for hisfund-raising effort and to help him towards his goal," said TomBerquist, chief spokesman for the credit union giant. Magno willmake a 4,300-mile trip across the northern U.S. in a 1955 AutoetteCruisabout electric wheelchair that has been certified for highwaytravel. Along the way, Magno, a well-known handicapped-accessadvocate, will visit places known for their handicappedaccessibility and bring home ideas to incorporate in localcommunities, according to Dana Blozis, a spokesman for The Spiritof Hope Foundation, the charitable organization headed by Magno.“Carlos has been planning this trip for a couple of yearsand, for a variety of reasons, it’s been postponed forseveral tries,” Blozis told The Credit Union Journal.“BECU pulled together their connections and their resourcesand helped make it possible.”