The ALS Network (formerly ALS Golden West) is proud to announce Patricia (Patty) Schimbor and Susan (Sue) Morris as our 2025 Essey Commitment to Care Award Honorees.
Patty Schimbor first connected with the ALS Network to volunteer after her husband, Mark Anderson Schimbor, died of ALS in 2012.
“In order to try and come to terms with this devastating loss, both for myself and my children, I was looking for a way to try to make sense of it all. I thought, ‘I am going to find an organization that deals with this disease and I am going to volunteer’…The organization is very involved in caregiving, advocacy on both the federal and state level, and very involved in research.”
-Patricia Schimbor, Esq.
Patty has served as a volunteer leader for the organization for over a decade, in honor and memory of both her husband, Marc, and her law partner, Jim Barber. She is currently serving her final year as ALS Network Board Chair. She is credited with helping to steer our organization through the COVID-19 pandemic, and during that uncertain period, the ALS Network’s robust care services program not only continued, but expanded to meet the needs of the ALS community. Additionally, Patty guided our organization, one of the largest ALS organizations in the country, through a successful board-approved transition from being a charter member of the ALS Association to a fully autonomous, mission-driven, community-centric organization, the ALS Network.
After her husband, Dr. Mark Morris (Mickey) was diagnosed with ALS in 2008, Sue Morris learned about the ALS Network, and they decided to get involved. They became ALS advocates and registered for ALS Network care management services. Sadly, Mark’s two-year battle with ALS ended in August 2010.
Since then, Sue has served in volunteer leadership roles for the organization for over a decade. As a former chair of this event, Champions for Cures and Care, the Fund Development Committee, the Care Services Committee, and our Board of Directors, and as current co-chair of our Major Gifts Committee and Vice Chair of the Board, she has focused on the importance of advancing our mission priorities, with a special emphasis on care – for people living with ALS, and their caregivers. As such, Sue and her children, Kathy and Steve, established the Morris Family Caregiver Initiative over five years ago. From Hawaii to Washington, D.C., Sue has championed access to care for the entire ALS community.
“We have been advocates for a concept called the wraparound model of care. Those living with ALS and their families constantly have the opportunity to be able to have the support and care they need. Someone who has been diagnosed with ALS, and their families are at a loss … to me it is essential and so supportive for somebody to have in our name, a Network, a place to ask questions, a resource that is there–constant, reliable and professional.”
-Susan Morris
Both of these extraordinary women have played an instrumental role in leading the charge to improve care for those living with ALS and their families. Through this award, the ALS Network will recognize Patty and Sue for their numerous years of expertise, generosity, and exemplary leadership benefiting the ALS community in California, Hawaii, and nationwide. They will be honored at the Champions for Cures and Care celebration on Friday, January 17, 2025, at Hyatt Regency San Francisco.