Parkinson Alberta is asking people to step out and stride on for its biggest fundraiser of the year. The 18th annual Flexxaire Parkinson Step ‘n Stride will be happening Sept. 6 and 7 across Alberta.
Cochrane will be taking part in the event Sept. 7 and it will be the 12th year that it has been a part of the event.
Katie von Hansen is the event and volunteer coordinator with Parkinson Alberta. She said the Step ‘n Stride event is their largest fundraising effort of the year and consists of eight walks over two days in several different communities in Alberta, with over 1,500 people participating.
“We have lots of very lively teams from all over the province and lots of great support in the Cochrane group. They are a very passionate committee and really involved with making the walk what it is every year,” von Hansen said.
She explained that people can sign up as teams or as individuals through the Parkinson Alberta website or by calling 1-800-561-1911.
She said they have also started something called Team Alberta for people who are not able to make it out to the walks or may not have a walker to sponsor. The CEO of Parkinson Alberta, John Petryshen, will be leading Team Alberta. People can go online and donate to this team through the Parkinson Alberta website. The walk is 5km, but there are also turn-around points at 1km and 3km so that everyone can participate, according to von Hansen.
She added that 100 per cent of the proceeds go directly to Albertans living with Parkinson’s through Parkinson Alberta, which offers a number of support groups and services. She said this includes everything from dance classes to support groups to speech therapy.
“It is a great time for people to talk about it and meet. We have people who come out for the walk every year,” she said.
Registration is at noon and the walk begins at 1 p.m. at the Cochrane Ranche Historic site parking lot. There will be a barbecue following for those who participated in the walk.
A new element this year is the “tell us why you walk” video challenge, and von Hansen said people could send in videos saying why they chose to participate in the walk, whether that be for a friend, family member or themselves.
She said you then email the video to [email protected] and they would share it on their website, YouTube Channel, Facebook, Twitter and Google+ accounts using the hashtag #StepNStride.
For more information and to register visit parkinsonalberta.ca.
