July 19th, 2023
Dear Family & Friends,
Over the last few years while I have been living with Parkinson’s I’ve reached out to all of you a number of times to support various organizations and projects I have been involved with. This year I will be fundraising for a very different organization in a new city, and province that Andi and I call home. As we now live in Winnipeg, Manitoba our local support group for People with Parkinson’s (PwPs) is U-Turn, a not-for-profit charitable organization offering exercise and other services to the Parkinson community at no cost to the participants!
It is our goal to ensure this valuable resource is kept financially viable and available to everyone who sees exercise as a valuable form of treatment of our symptoms. Personally, I am an urban pole walker, out almost every day in the morning but also like a weekly hard workout that meets the standard of H.I.I.T (High Intensity Interval Training) which I get at U-Turn’s Monday Golden Glove Workout. More info about U-turn https://www.uturnparkinsons.org/ .
This year I have set a goal of $5,000 as my first target. If we can, I would love to double that to match my best year (2021) when we raised $10,000 and walked the Million Steps. More about that on my website at www.joewithpd.com . I will also be donating proceeds from my book, “Grab the Spark” an intimate collection of stories, photo and poems related to my first 10 years with PD. I have soft cover books available for $20 plus $5 for mailing in Canada and USA. You can email your address and do an e-transfer to joevank53@gmail.com and a personal signed copy will be mailed to you.
Our Team name is “Grab the Spark”, when your donation is tagged to our team I will be able to thank you properly for your support. Use the link below to get to the donation page.
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/u-turn-parkinsons-inc/p2p/walktouturnpd
I will be sure to up-date you of any events this fall that you may be interesting in supporting. Current events are:
Sept. 9, 2023 the U-Turn Parkinson’s Walk Fundraiser see link below.
https://www.uturnparkinsons.org/events/the-walk-to-u-turn-parkinsons
So now is the formal “ask” to please support our fight for more normal lives with access to specifically design exercise to increase our quality of life for those with and supporting those with Parkinson’s disease.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Joe van Koeverden