Port Alberni residents can join a team to participate in the Investors Group Walk for Alzheimer’s and show their support for people who face dementia. The event is Canada’s largest fundraiser for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and takes place here and in 21 other communities across B.C. on Sunday, May 7.
The Walk is a fun and family-friendly event and is unique to each community.
Each Walk is dedicated to an honouree – someone who has been affected by dementia. In Port Alberni the honouree for 2017 is Athalie Spencer. Her story is the public face of the Walk and a reminder of why participants walk.
While you can walk in honour of Spencer, the Alzheimer Society of B.C. also encourages walking in honour or memory of someone in your life who has faced dementia.
“Teams are incredibly important to this event,” says Jennifer Cameron, events officer at the Alzheimer Society of B.C. “Many Walk teams include people living with dementia, care partners, or those with a personal connection to the disease on them, so walking on a team with friends and family is a very powerful and meaningful experience. It helps all of us who have been touched by dementia feel, in a very tangible way, that we are not alone and that we can make a difference.”
Creating or joining a team is easy. Simply go to walkforalzheimers.ca, select Port Alberni from the pull down menu and follow the prompts. Teams that raise more than $250 between now and March 14 will be entered to win $500 in Air Canada gift cards.
The funds raised by Investors Group Walk for Alzheimer’s support programs, education and services in Port Alberni and across B.C. They also contribute towards awareness activities and research into the causes of and cure for dementia.
