Four months ago, we challenged Alzheimer's Impact Movement (AIM) members to multiply their impact by recruiting at least 10 friends or colleagues to join AIM. We created the AIM Power of Ten Challenge Kit, hoping that with a few tools and tips, dedicated AIM members would come up with creative recruitment ideas. But we never imagined that your collective creativity would double AIM's total membership in just a few months!

It couldn't come at a more critical time. Since AIM's founding, Congress has nearly tripled funding for Alzheimer's research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), but our congressional champions caution that this trend will be hard to maintain in the current fiscal climate. And, federal funding is still well short of the funding scientists say is needed to develop an effective treatment by 2025. That's why our work is more important than ever.

To continue providing Alzheimer's researchers with the funding they need, we need your friends and colleagues to join this fight as members of AIM. We asked three of the most successful Power of Ten Challenge participants to share how they rose to the challenge.

Teresa Valko, Santa Rosa Valley, CA, 31 Referrals

I am very active for the Alzheimer's Association throughout the year - speaking, teaching classes, serving on committees, participating in Walk, and more. I always post my activities on Facebook and Instagram. From comments on those posts, I compiled a list of folks who are passionate about the fight against Alzheimer's. Over the past few weeks, I watched for those individuals to show up as "live" on Facebook Messenger and I would send a message. Inevitably, they would ask what I'm doing and it was a perfect opening to tell them I'm preparing for a trip to the Advocacy Forum. I would then tell them "you can actually do a great favor for me so I can maximize our efforts in D.C. by joining the Alzheimer's Impact Movement." This worked 100% of the time. I would walk them through the process and watch the confirmation email show up while I was still chatting. I used the same approach for friends with whom I have an "active" texting relationship.

Michelle Darwin, Sterling, VA, 26 Referrals

I do hand lettering and calligraphy as a hobby. Over the Christmas break I posted on my Facebook page an offer to letter a "word" that would be meaningful to my friends for 2017. It started as a way to practice for my daughter's wedding next fall, but it got a lot of attention so I decided to do it again, only I chose the word "impact." I told my friends and family that I would do a series of cards with the word "impact" and send them to anyone who joined AIM using my referral code. I also know who tends to respond to my Facebook posts related to my Dad and my Alzheimer's story, so I wrote each of them a personal note and told them the power that I believed AIM had to make the necessary changes we need to fight Alzheimer's disease.

John George, Jersey City, NJ, 26 Referrals

I don't like emails. I never have. I believe an in-person chat or phone call is the best method for getting your point across. When I first heard about the Power of Ten Challenge, I called at least ten people every day until I received a verbal commitment from at least 25 people that they would join. I was able to have a conversation, answer questions and talk about why I was passionate about the cause. If I wrote everything that I said in an email, the tone and delivery wouldn't have the same impact. I wanted the person on the other side of the phone to hear my sincerity and understand why I was calling them. I'm not just another person behind a computer screen copying and pasting the same email to 25 different recipients. I am an advocate passionate enough to spend the time talking with groups or on the phone with anyone who was willing to listen.

So are YOU inspired to take the Challenge? Simply download the AIM Power of Ten Challenge Kit for instructions and all the materials you need to get started. Together we can grow the movement that persuades our leaders in Washington to confront the Alzheimer's crisis!