Multiple Sclerosis Association of America's Resource Detectives(SM) Program Marks One Year A...( 60000 Resources Have Been Identified...),Health

60,000 Resources Have Been Identified and More Are Still to be Discovered!

CHERRY HILL, N.J., Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Resource Detectives program, developed by the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA), provides a virtual volunteer opportunity for anyone interested in giving back to the community but unable to do so in the traditional sense of working on-site. During its first year the Resource Detectives program energized a group of 4,000 "detectives" to locate and report over 60,000 resources for the multiple sclerosis (MS) community. Areas of focus include: disability programs, employment, financial assistance, health and wellness, housing information, legal assistance, social security, and many more. The information gathered is used by MSAA's Helpline staff in assisting individuals affected by MS throughout the country.

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Entering its second year, the Resource Detectives program will begin a key initiative -- the recruitment of five MS centers to pilot a program which will grant them remote access to the database. "We will form a partnership with several MS centers across the country and give each center access to the Resource Detectives database, yielding thousands of valuable sources of information to their clients," explains Bob Rapp, MSAA's vice president of programs and evaluation. Mr. Rapp continues, "In order to maintain and grow our database, MSAA needs to increase the number of volunteers as well as the number of resources entered into the database. Without our detectives working so hard to gather this valuable wealth of information, the program would not be the same."

To find out how you can help the Resource Detectives program, please visit http://support.msassociation.org/detectives. If you
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