{"id":38130,"date":"2026-05-07T13:20:59","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=38130"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T17:21:13","slug":"walk-for-alzheimers-will-help-society-address-significant-community-needs-one-step-at-a-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/walk-for-alzheimers-will-help-society-address-significant-community-needs-one-step-at-a-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Walk for Alzheimer\u2019s will help Society address significant community needs \u2013 one step at a time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As the Alzheimer Society of York Region marks 40 years in the community, they\u2019re doing so while managing wait lists for day programs that have more than doubled from this point last year, coupled with the rising costs of making these programs a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This month, community members can help the Aurora-based Society address these important community needs one step at a time through the IG Wealth Management Walk for Alzheimer\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set for Saturday, May 30, at Lake Wilcox Park in Richmond Hill, the walk will not only raise awareness of various forms of dementia and the programs designed by the Society to help client and caregiver alike on this difficult journey, but give participants an opportunity to pay tribute to those lost to the disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every dollar raised during the walk will stay in York Region, helping an estimated 21,000 people in this community living with dementia \u2013 and, as the Society notes, for every one person diagnosed with dementia, another 10 to 12 people are directly impacted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe goal this year is to raise $165,000 and we\u2019re well on our way,\u201d says Yolanda Mol Amelink, Director of Philanthropy for the Alzheimer Society of York Region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kari Quinn-Humphrey, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of York Region, says the organization\u2019s programs are \u201ctrying to reach everyone where they are in the disease process,\u201d and funds raised through the Walk will help \u201cfill the gaps.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe receive a lot of government funding, but this allows us that flexibility to support the community where they need that support,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this flexibility is particularly important in addressing rapidly increasing demand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPost-COVID, the waitlist for our day programs were down, but they are double what they were last year,\u201d says Quinn-Humphrey. \u201cThe need is growing and people are seeking more supports, that they\u2019re not able to do on their own and they need help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s more complexity,\u201d she adds, when asked whether this significant uptick is the result of community growth, an aging population, more individuals receiving a proper diagnosis, or a combination of factors. \u201cPeople are staying in the community longer because the waitlists for long-term care homes are so long. People want to remain home, so caregivers are trying to do that more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This increased demand coincides with the increased costs of just about everything these days \u2013 including the resources it takes to make these vital day programs operational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying not to raise our fees for the day programs as the cost-of-living increases,\u201d says Quinn-Humphrey, stressing the increasing costs of food, materials and IT services, as well as the cost of gas and automobile insurance \u2013 vital components in bringing clients to and from the programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t think about IT cybersecurity for a non-profit organization, but those costs and protecting our clients\u2019 privacy and donor privacy, we have to stay on top of that, and that\u2019s not something everyone considers when they\u2019re making a donation to the Society. They want it to go to the programs, which we all want, but, at the same time, we also do have those hidden costs that all charities have, that people aren\u2019t always thinking about the importance of, and we have to keep that top of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the May 30 event approaches there are a number of ways you can support the Walk and the Society it benefits. In addition to registering to walk yourself, you can help sponsor a registered individual or team, volunteer for the day of, and, if you\u2019re not available on the day, there are many more chances to volunteer for the Society throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere’s more opportunities to volunteer with the organization than just with the event because now we are now embedding volunteers to support a lot of our programs, including the day program,\u201d says Mol Amelink. \u201cI know that we have a lot of retirees in the Aurora community that are looking to support the community in that way, and that’s a great way to engage with the Alzheimer’s Society of York Region. We have our dementia-friendly communities training, so organizations in Aurora who are as committed as we are to creating a more dementia-friendly community, we offer them free raining as well and a lot more people are taking advantage of that \u2013 but we have some ways to go still.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Quinn-Humphrey: \u201cOur volunteer coordinator’s goal is that she has a volunteer every day in every one of our day programs. So, if the community could help us to achieve that, that’s our new volunteer coordinator’s goal. An [ideal volunteer is someone who is] open learning about the disease process and how they can communicate well and support that person if they’re open to that. If they have a special talent, like they can play a musical instrument, or if they’re an artist, or if they can enrich people’s lives through one of their talents they’d be willing to share, that would be amazing\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information about the upcoming Walk, including registration, sponsorship, and volunteer opportunities, visit www.alzgiving.ca\/yorkregion2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/strong><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Alzheimer Society of York Region marks 40 years in the community, they\u2019re doing so while managing wait lists for day programs that have more than doubled from this point last year, coupled with the rising costs of making these programs a reality. This month, community members can help the Aurora-based Society address these […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9V0","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-15 12:43:14","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38131,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38130\/revisions\/38131"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}