Plans are already underway for the 2023 IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer’s following a recent successful event in Sarnia.
The Walk for Alzheimer’s was held on May 29. About 200 people participated and the event raised a total of $55,650.
Manager of Fund Development and Communications Marie Marcy-Smids said it was their most successful walk.
"It was a fun event! We had one family -- who actually are going to be our walk ambassadors for next year -- there were 55 of them. They won the most money raised by a team and the team was called Nettie's family. Nettie was the matriarch of the family. She had, I believe, nine children and it was all of the children and the grandchildren who came out. It was so nice to see!"
Marcy-Smids said some tweaks are already being planned for next year's event to make it "bigger and better."
However, for those who want to donate to this year's fundraiser, contributions will be collected over the next two weeks.
"We'll happily take more donations," chuckled Marcy-Smids. "The money that we raised was actually enough that we can run the day program for one day for an entire year."
The organization is funded by the Ministry of Health to host the on-site day program for those with dementia for one day. To fund a second day, the local organization was dipping into reserves. Now that the second day is funded, Marcy-Smids said they can save what's left in reserves but will continue to push for the program to eventually become a five-day program.
