Where is everyone moving to, I asked at a caregivers meeting in 2012? I found out quickly that’s what the Parkinson’s walk was called, “Moving Day.”

The community has continued to move forward since that first walk in 2012. Soliciting for donations, planning all the activities for the day, organizing a team, and designing and ordering a team shirt to display our message has become very addictive. Admittedly, I’ve never actually walked in the event. My challenge and drive is to contribute, and do what I can to help in the preparations for that day.

My daughter-in-law named our team “Bills Bunch” after my hubby who’d been diagnosed in 2008 and the name has stuck every year since.

I am involved with the Moving Day Buffalo planning committee, which is comprised of already busy people who have contributed strong, sensible, organized ideas to make Moving Day Buffalo successful. There are several younger generations whose ideas and stamina have made it even easier to make the walk more productive over the years.

My joy is helping wherever I can. Watching the walk begin and cheering for those returning from the walk; who all have smiles on their faces from what they accomplished. One of the highlights of the walk for me is knowing that we reached our fundraising goal or are close to reaching it, and then the additional time we are given to surpass that goal. We’ve surpassed our goal twice now raising over $120,000 in 2019.

There are many walks for different causes. Fortunately, Moving Day Buffalo has brought significant awareness to Parkinson’s disease and awareness to how the foundation can help those with PD.

We call Parkinson’s “snowflakes,” because everyday is a new normal with different challenges, but as long as we keep moving, hope for a cure is in the future.