Hi There!

Thanks for checking out my web page!!  My husband and I will be running the Boston Marathon this year!  We have been training hard, but can not do it without your help. I will be running the Boston Marathon on April 20th, 2009 for a non-profit organization called the ALLY foundation.  Please read on to learn about  what the ALLY foundation stands for, and about the tragic death of Alexandra (Ally) Zapp.

Please help me raise money for theis GREAT charity!  No donation amount is too small to make a difference!!  The ALLY foundation and myself THANK YOU!

Look forward to seeing you all at the finish line :) -Aimie

The Tragedy

The ALLY foundation is named after Alexandra Nicole Zapp, who was brutally murdered by a repeat sex offender on July 18, 2002. That night, Alexandra drove to Boston for a charity cruise and a concert. On her way home to Newport, Rhode Island, she stopped at a rest area in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. When Ally went into the Burger King restaurant at the rest stop, the manager that took her order took special notice of her because "she was nice to me, she treated me like a human being." That would be the last conversation that Ally would ever have. Neither Ally nor the night manager could have any way of knowing that a dangerous sexual predator, Paul Leahy, with twenty four convictions including rape and kidnapping was working in their midst; completely unsupervised, untreated, and recently released from prison by the state.

Paul Leahy attacked Alexandra as she opened the women's restroom door. There was little Alexandra could do to fight Leahy, a man twice her weight, but she fought hard, even pleading with him to let her go and claim that he had rescued her from an attacker. It was useless.

Next door in the men's bathroom State Trooper Stephen O'Reilly heard suspicious noises, and upon investigation saw blood on the door to the women's restroom. Trooper O'Reilly drew his gun and opened the restroom door to find Leahy washing his hands in a blood soaked room. Leahy said "I lost it, I just lost it."

Alexandra's death was due to a catastrophic failure of the criminal justice system, the very institution mandated to protect the innocent. Paul Leahy's rights were put before Alexandra's when the state allowed a repeat violent sex offender to roam the streets freely.

The ALLY Foundation will relentlessly pursue an integrated system of cooperation between government, the criminal justice system, and citizens to ensure the safety of society is a priority so that what happened to Alexandra will never, ever happen again. 

Again, no donation amount is too small to make a difference.  What happened to Ally could happen to any one of us, or our family members.  Thank you! -Aimie