2024 marks three years since we lost the late, GREAT Kris Balch.  It also marks the Balch Brigade's 3rd year participating in the PanCan Purple Stride.  

If you're reading this, you already know...Kris was an extraordinary human being.  The man with 10,000 hobbies - marathon runner, rock climber, wood worker, gardener, pottery thrower, stained glass artist, scuba diver, hang glider, keyboard player, knobby-knee contest winner, squirrel catcher and releaser, Burning Man attendee, patented design engineer, and uncredited skateboard inventor. He was unbelievably smart, had an incredible sense of humor, and was a devoted family man who taught his kids a strong work ethic as well as the importance of humility and kindness.  Kris was a craftsman and adventurer.  His children and grandchildren are blessed to have been influenced by him and are proud to carry the twisted Balch gene.  

This year, we will once again be marching to honor Chris's father-in-law, Francisco "Pancho" Hernandez and Abbie's father-in-law, Filemon "Chito" Lopez who we also lost following cancer diagnosis.  Francisco and Filemon shared something more with Kris than just cancer.  They were all men of high integrity, who preached and practiced the importance of family and all had wicked senses of humor.  We are honored to join forces with the Hernandez and Lopez families to come together to walk and raise funds in honor of 3 men who loved big and loved hard. 

Join our team as a participant, grab all the purple attire you can find and walk along with us as we celebrate our loved ones, or simply make a gift of any size (no donation is too small!)  You can donate to a specific team member or make a general donation to the team.  We would also appreciate if you could spread the word!

Thank you for supporting the Balch/Lopez/Hernandez families!