On the weekend of March 31 - April 3, local fourteen year old Tara Croft, freshman at Lookout Valley Middle High School, traveled with her family and affiliate staff to Washington D.C. to participate in the National Walk for Epilepsy and the Kids Speak Up Institue, a conference put on by the National Epilepsy Foundation for teens with epilepsy.

Tara, along with her family, board Vice-President Kristie Wilder and staff Aubree Carpenter participated in the National Walk for Epilepsy on Saturday March 31.  The walk was a two mile stroll around the national Mall with over 5,000 participants, each with their own connection to epilepsy, to raise awareness for Epilepsy and money for research.

After training conferences and networking with other teens for a couple of days, Tara, with mother Lorna, went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday April 3. Tara, along with two other teens from Tennessee, spoke to congressional staff at both Senator Alexandar and Senator Corker's office. Tara also spoke to staff at U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann's office, (TN3). Each teen had the opportunity to tell his/her story and bring attention to the RAISE Act (Raising Awareness and Insight into Seizures and Epilepsy - H.Res 298) as well as much needed funding from the CDC and the NIH for epilepsy research. The RAISE act is a bipartisan bill to gain congressional support for coordinated epilepsy awareness programs. You can read more about the RAISE act and take action by contacting your represetative by visiting: http://capwiz.com/efa/issues/bills/?bill=49573506&size=full.

*In the first photo, Lorna and Tara Croft stand outside Senator Corker's office.

*In the second photo, Tara is seated far right and is speaking with another Tennessee teen delegate with Brandon Ball, staff for Senator Alexander.