This year’s Walk for Alzheimer’s will add a second location.
The annual fundraiser will start at Memorial Park in Bracebridge on May 25, and Huntsville’s River Mill Park on May 26—with the option to walk two or five kilometres, or fundraise virtually.
“The biggest thing is adding a new town. We’re doing Huntsville for the first time in many years,” says Walk Coordinator Michelle Dear. “Bracebridge is where the office is, and we want people in Huntsville to go ‘oh that’s where they are. They exist, and that’s who we should talk to if we have any needs in the community’.”
Dear says they’ve set a goal of $95,000 between the two walks, which will go towards their regular programs and services in Muskoka and Parry Sound, as well as help outfit their new space in Bracebridge.
“It’s got a little rec room area, and [we’ll try] to run some respite care for the caretakers of people with dementia. That way they can drop them off, maybe go do an errand or visit a friend, and get a little break,” says Dear. “As everyone’s aware, respite care is very expensive to pay for, so we want to be able to make that free to the community.”
Dear adds the walk is a very important source of funding for them.
“This is our biggest fundraiser,” says Dear. “It’s really the only true means to fund our local centre. We do other little ones, but this is the only thing that’s going to fund us for the whole year.”
You can sign up or donate to this year’s Walk for Alzheimer’s at the event website.