Alzheimer Society annual event surpasses goal by over $11K

The second virtual IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer’s hosted by the Alzheimer Society of KFL&A surpassed last year’s total, which was an absolute suprise to the event organizers.

The 2021 walk wrapped up on Monday, May 31, with an amazing total; coming in at $11K more than their goal for the year, which was $53,000. According to a release from the Alzheimers Society, organizers believe that the secret to their success the past two years seems to be moving it out of the park and onto a virtual platform.

This year’s walk was the second year as a virtual event, which, up until May of 2019, had been held in parks in Kingston and Napanee. Last year, the walk realized a $10,000 increase over the previous year.

According to the release, organizers thought that last year’s total would be hard to beat in a second year of COVID protocols, because hosting a virtual walk wasn’t as unique an idea as it was last year.

“We had initially hoped we might just match last years amount, but instead, we reached a historic high of almost $64,049 (and counting),” said Lesley Kimble, fundraising Coordinator for the Alzheimer Society. “Although not everyone kept track of their step counts on their participant sites, some did, and the total steps taken by those folks adds up to more than 4 million in KFLA alone! Canada-wide, the walk raised in excess of $2 million.”

“We know that many people are aware that the recent lockdowns have hit our clientele particularly hard, leaving their already small social circle even more limited, and so they have been very supportive”, explained Vicki Poffley, Executive Director of the local Society, “but, we think that another reason for the success of the walk this year, is that family members and friends could participate from anywhere in the world that they happened to live.”

There was a large increase in the number of family teams, as well as individual registrations, because people were invited to ‘walk their way, any day in May’ – they weren’t required to be somewhere at a specific time on a specific day. However, the Alzheimer Society said they see the value of both in-person and online events and next years event is expected to include both components, so that people who aren’t here aren’t excluded from participating just because they don’t live in KFL&A.

The Alzheimer Soceity shared the breakdown for our local region. The Lennox and Addington walk goal was $10,000, they raised a total of $17,062, and the Kington walk goal was $43,000 and they raised $46,987. There were 122 people registered in total for the two walks, which consisted of 20 teams and 39 individual walkers.

The proceeds of the IG Wealth Management Walk for the Alzheimers, the largest fundraiser of the year for the Alzheimer Society, will stay in the KFL&A region, and will fund crucial programs and services for the 4300 people in the region who are living with a dementia diagnosis, as well as their caregivers and families, according to the release. The Society would like to thank its sponsors, participants, donors, volunteers, and everyone who helped in the promotion of the event by sharing the information on social media. Said Kimble, “The success of any walk depends on the involvement of its community, and our communities in KFL&A really did hit it out of the park this year, both literally and figuratively!”

The walk sites will remain open until June 15, so that people who may not have had an opportunity to donate, can do so. You can visit the walk website at www.walkforalzheimers.ca .