Spring-area residents can walk, fundraise and learn CPR at the 2026 Northwest Harris County Heart Walk on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Lone Star College–University Park.

Lee Strickhouser, senior vice president of consumer lending at First Community Credit Union, will chair the walk. His involvement is personal. Strickhouser watched his father undergo two aortic valve replacement surgeries due to a genetic heart condition, according to the American Heart Association.

"There is no better cause to support than one that impacts every community, every organization, and every family," Strickhouser said in the Monday, Sept. 14 announcement.

Nearly a thousand participants are expected. The 2025 walk at the same campus drew more than 1,000 walkers and set a $300,000 fundraising goal. That event marked the tenth year Lone Star College–University Park hosted the walk. No fundraising target for 2026 has been announced.

The walk is paired with a broader push to expand CPR education across northwest Harris County. The AHA says nine in 10 people who suffer cardiac arrest outside a hospital die, and more than half never receive bystander CPR. Immediate CPR can double or triple a person's chance of survival, the association says.

Spring Fire Department already offers monthly CPR, AED, first aid and Basic Life Support classes at little to no cost for residents in its service territory, the department said on X.

The area's emergency responders have earned recognition for cardiac care. Harris County ESD 11 Mobile Healthcare received the AHA's Mission: Lifeline EMS Gold Achievement Award in April for the third consecutive year. The district covers 177 square miles of northern Harris County and serves more than 700,000 residents.

TJ Tijerina, Gulf Coast board chairperson and CEO of First Community Credit Union, said in the announcement that the organization hopes the community will help make the walk a success.