Take the money and run...or walk
Does it seems like there are lot of groups hitting us up for donations lately? Three hurricanes, the shooting in Las Vegas, a variety of Go-fund me pages for people in need and the usual other charity groups have all been active recently. All are great causes and in need of money to help people. And most of the people I know have opened up their hearts and wallets to help as much as they can.
I know it's tough to give to everyone. I know you feel bad when you can't help everyone, right? I also know there's guilt involved when you hear about these and you have to make a yes/no decision. Well....here's just one more cause to ponder. One more won't hurt anyone, right?
When I started this blog almost five years ago, it was a way to talk about my adventures dealing with Parkinson's Disease. I was fairly new in the PD world and it seemed like every day there was a new experience. This was going to be my way to share those experiences. I figured it could help other people dealing with the same things plus if it went well, there might be a book in it. So for the first year or so, that's what I wrote about.
Somewhere in year two, things changed. I figured out how to deal with Parkinson's Disease and went on with living my life like everyone else. The focus of my blog changed, too. I was and still am interested in Parkinson's stories but I also wanted to talk about other topics. Around this time, someone asked me what my blog was about and I told him "Parkinson's, Nazis and The Beatles."
Since then I've moved on to add homelessness, Cancer, death and Donald Trump to my repertoire....and all of that is a good thing. If I only wrote about Parkinson's or any one topic, I would have been so bored that I would have closed this blog years ago. It also means that I'm healthy enough that I'm not dealing with day to day health issues. It's more like month to month...also a very good thing.
But....it always comes back to Parkinson's. It's the reason I have this forum to talk about anything I want and it's why I've been rambling on for four hundred words getting ready to ask you for cash.
This coming Sunday, October 15th is our annual Moving Day-Chicago event. It's our communities yearly walk along the lakefront to raise money for Parkinson's Disease. It's an opportunity for all of us involved in the PD world to get together and bond with each other. There are people walking of all ages and of all stages of the disease. There are people who walk for themselves as well as people who walk for friends and relatives that are no longer with us.
Walking along the lakefront with people who you share this with is as spiritual an experience as you can get.
Oh yeah...I almost forgot...it's time to talk about the Benjamin's (do people still say that?). In the first five years of this event, there have been about one hundred of these nationally and it's raised almost $14,000,000. That's a lot of cash and it helps fund better care and programs to help Parkinson's patients lead a better lifestyle. There's no question that I'm one of those that have been helped. There's no question that a lot of the reason I lead as normal and as active a life as I do is because of all the money raised for research and awareness. I'm grateful for this every day...every single day!
Our local chapter has raised about $330,000 so far this year. They've reached about the 3/4 mark of this years goal of $450,000. So here's your chance to make a difference in the lives of the more than one million Americans living with Parkinson's Disease. Just click on one of the many links, take a look around, pick a team and give what you can. Even a buck or two helps.
So that's my fundraising pitch for the year. For those that actually give money, thanks so much. For those who can't for whatever reason, thanks for reading.
Now back to writing about the Beatles, Nazis and Donald Trump. Sigh.
Related Posts: Moving Day-Chicago 2015 and Moving Day-Chicago 2014
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