He’s done it again.
For Glenn Caffery of Leyden, much of 2025 — and 2024, for that matter — was spent on an ultra-distance run in all 50 states to raise money for the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to funding research to prevent, slow or reverse Alzheimer’s disease.
The project resulted in Caffery raising $15,000 for the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund while running roughly 33 miles, on average, in each state. But it was back in 2011 that the former Selectboard member first started working with the nonprofit, completing a solo transcontinental fundraising run in honor of his father, who had Alzheimer’s disease and died at a “very young” age.
“The feeling like I had some agency, that there was something I could do, and specifically raising money, you know, was transformative to me,” he recalled. “It kind of changed me from feeling like a total victim of this horrible disease to feeling like I can be part of the solution.”
Caffery’s latest journey, which began July 18, 2024, demanded intense focus, an established routine of car camping and tackling some intensely rugged trails, he recounted. From the initial trails of Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to the notoriously difficult western routes, Caffery faced physical and logistical challenges while taking in picturesque views.
The most demanding terrains, he said, were the Grand Canyon’s “rim to rim to rim” on brutally hot, exposed days and the remote, super-hot Big Bend in Texas. The journey finished in July 2025 on the Kesugi Ridge Trail in Alaska, an approximately 31-mile route that parallels the Alaska Range and features vast tundra landscapes. He was joined on the final run by his daughter.
The logistics of the trip required sleeping in his Prius. While generally comfortable, finding a place to rest often proved to be the toughest hurdle, he noted.
“I think my hairiest moments were absolutely not on the trail,” Caffery said. “It was trying, in the dark, to find a place to pull over and sleep. But aside from that, it worked out great.”
Caffery also said the journey was a testament to the nation’s public lands and the power of human connection. He cherished the mind-boggling diversity of landscapes, from Hawaii’s rainforests to Alaska’s tundras. He also shared his company on nearly a third of his runs, which typically took 10 to 12 hours each, running with friends, family and strangers alike.
“It was the best part of the trip, running with people — whether it was my daughters, which was the singular most life-changing part of the adventure, to friends who joined me in several places, to strangers,” he said. “It was what I treasure most, more than any other part of the experience.”
The money raised comes during “a tumultuous year for the Alzheimer’s disease scientific environment,” in the words of Cure Alzheimer’s Fund CEO Meg Smith on the nonprofit’s website. Alzheimer’s research has been “imperiled” by federal funding changes. As of August, the website states, the National Institutes of Health had awarded $11.6 billion compared to an average of $16.3 billion by the same point in 2016 to 2024.
“We are determined to keep pushing discovery and progress on Alzheimer’s disease forward while simultaneously responding to urgent requests to support vital Alzheimer’s research and resources historically funded by the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies,” Smith’s statement on the website reads.
With these goals in mind, the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund created the Rapid Response Fund to “preserve vital projects, sustain essential infrastructure and prevent devastating disruptions to progress.” The nonprofit hopes to raise $10 million for the fund this year.
In addition to financially supporting the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, Caffery emphasized that a key contribution is raising visibility for the research work being done.
“Ultimately, my overall role is to raise awareness of the amazing work that Cure Alzheimer’s Fund is doing and how transformative they’ve been in my life as partners that do all the things that I can’t do in stopping Alzheimer’s from ravaging our family,” he explained. “This feeling like my work in this fundraising is to honor their work, to let them know that their work matters.”
To support the ongoing fundraiser campaign, visit alzrun.org