Tami Triplett

St Jude Walk Presenting Sponsor, East Tennessee Walking Horse Association began in 1983, as a group of individuals coming together to promote the Tennessee Walking Horse. To some of our members the walking horse represents their profession, to others their greatest pleasure. Our goal is to secure the future of the Tennessee Walking horse as an association and way of life. 

Over the last 43 years the association has held upwards of 250 members. Throughout show season high point members vie for the coveted high point award given at the annual awards banquet in January.  With charity being a large part of the association over 43 years some of the past choices are as follows -  American Heart Association, Therapeutic Riding Centers, and Cancer Foundation. 

In 2011,  the choice was made to partner with St Jude Children’s Hospital as their charity. Why you may ask? We have a member, Keith Ailshie who has been a horse trainer for 31 years. He was diagnosed at 14 with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, given a one week to live. Dewey Foust was instrumental with the monetary funds needed to get he and his family to Memphis. Keith stayed in Memphis 60 days; Dr Furman then transferred him to Johnson City for continuum of care with Dr Kowinaki. He was told he'd never have children, now married with two children, a boy and girl. To this day he makes yearly trips to Memphis for follow-up tests and studies regarding side effects from chemotherapy. 

We asked, St Jude Walk East TN Committee member and ETWHA Web Designer / Newsletter Editor Tami Triplett, “For that special reason” She stated, “We continue to choose St Jude Children's Hospital for our charity of choice to support a mission where families fighting childhood cancer leads in research and treatment. To help children over the last 15 years has been one of the proudest accomplishments . To date we have donated $159,092.00. Our largest donation was $25,000 last year. Another lofty fund raising goal was set this year and we look forward to raising money for this cause and helping the children of St Jude.”