Donations still coming in for Walk for Alzheimer’s
Over 100 walkers in Moosomin’s Walk for Alzheimer’s
June 8, 2026, 8:23 am
Ashley Bochek, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Donations are still coming in for the Third Annual Moosomin Walk for Alzheimer’s. Online donations will be accepted until June 19.
As of the day of the walk, about $34,000 was raised by the Moosomin walk. With an anonymous donor matching donations up to $50,000, that means about $68,000 was raised by the Moosomin walk in total, but donations are still coming in.
Over three years the Moosomin Walk for Alzheimers has attracted more than 100 people a year and raised more than $275,000 in total over the three years, but a final fundraising total for this year will be available later this month.
Moosomin’s third annual Walk for Alzheimer’s was on Saturday, May 30. Over 100 walkers joined this year as well as five teams organized by families and businesses in the area.
Walkers from all over the area walked on the Saturday as well as local health-related businesses participated in this year’s first Wellness Expo at the Legion during the walk.
Organizer Rene Whelpton says this year’s walk went really well with lots of walkers and volunteers showing their support for the cause.
“The day was windy, it was cloudy, but the rain held off until after the walk, so that was very good. The walk went well. We got a lot of positive comments. We had over 100 walkers, which is starting to be our average now. So that was excellent.
“We had 38 pre-registered on the list, and five teams— that was different this year. You can make a team, and then have people sign up under your teams.”
Whelpton says the Wellness Expo offered lots of helpful resources.
It was a fairly good turnout. We had 10 vendors, plus IG Wealth Management had a booth there, so I was very impressed with that because we asked probably about 20 businesses if they wanted to come. I think it was a good idea because we don’t have a central hub or place where we have all that information. We need to get a lot of information out on how to age well, the supports and services that we have here, like the hearing, CPAP, and physiotherapy can offer courses for seniors, so that you maintain your balance so there is less chance of a fall, or other different things.”
Enjoyed seeing community members
Whelpton says she most enjoyed seeing everyone participate in the walk and coming out that day.
“Seeing everybody there was my favourite part of the day. We had walkers from Rocanville, Elkhorn, and Virden. I would say a good half hour radius around Moosomin. We also had a family from Indian Head.
“I wish I could have visited more with people, but just seeing people, seeing the smiles on their faces, hearing ‘thank you for doing this.’ It makes all the work that you put into it worthwhile when people appreciate it.”
Raised over $68,000 in Moosomin
Whelpton says the walk raised over $34,000 before the anonymous donor matched up to $50,000.
“We raised $24,000 online, and $10,600 on the day of. I am still waiting to hear from Regina because we had the matching donor up to $50,000 so they still have to confirm the amount of that.
“Moosomin raised $36,014 and the only two places that beat us were Regina and Saskatoon. We raised more than Prince Albert and Swift Current. Regina raised $56,670 and Saskatoon raised $70,313. So we were right in the middle of four big cities.”
She adds, “We had $24,000 donated online before the walk started, which is way more than last year, and then when we counted the money that was donated during the walk, around $10,000 that seemed like a lot to me. It’s really encouraging that people care, and want to donate.”
Important to walk
Whelpton explains walking for Alzheimer’s is an important initiative.
“I know it’s an important cause. I truly believe we’ll all be touched by dementia in some form, maybe not very closely, but we’ll be touched so I think it is really important for us to learn about it, to learn what supports there are, and donate to research. So, hopefully, there will be some kind of a cure or medicine that will mitigate some of the symptoms, so that we would be able to function a lot better.”
Huge community support
Whelpton says she was thankful for all the support and promotion of the Walk for Alzheimer’s event.
“It is heartwarming to be in this community with all the support, with the Spectator’s support, MLA support, the chamber’s support, and always being able to speak there and being warmly welcomed at the chamber meetings.
Talking to the businesses, there was a lot more businesses that just rose to the challenge of making a team, going into the wellness fair, talking to me about it. So that was really neat to see the businesses step up and support.”
She says there was a great group of many volunteers who helped with this year’s walk.
“I really love that we had over 30 volunteers to make this work. The youngest was eight and the oldest would have been in their 70s. We were really excited that everybody of all ages wanted to help. I had people stop me and ask if we needed help organizing, and helped. It’s usually been just our little group that organizes everything so that was great this year to have so many volunteers from the community.”
Care about one another
Whelpton says she enjoys seeing the community rally together to accomplish goals.
“It’s an amazing, unique, small town community. We care about our neighbors. We get to know our neighbors and our friends and our coworkers, and we care about them when something bad happens, or when there’s a challenge, we want to make it better. This seems to be the type of people that are drawn here.”
She says many families joined this year’s walk.
“There was one team that had a family member that had just been diagnosed this past year, so they were new to the walk, and that team had amazing family support. I think there was 10 or 15 of them and they raised a good amount of money. That was really exciting to see them rally around their family member and come out to the walk.”
She says the Moosomin Alzheimer’s Support Group is being missed by community members.
“I’ve been encouraged to start our support group again because that has been quiet for a while. Some have said, I’m definitely going to come to that, or I need to come to that, or my husband and I, or my wife and I, so there is still the need for it.”
Inspired for next year
Whelpton says the work of organizing the walk each year is rewarding.
“It was very rewarding to do the work. I feel very satisfied. I feel inspired to do better next year. You always want to fine tune things and make it more efficient, get the word out to more people, get more people involved, and supporting, more businesses joining as teams. I am very satisfied. It was well worth the effort.”
She says the walk has grown over the past three years.
“Three years ago, I had never even heard of the walk, until Bill Thorn brought it up. Our support group was small. I would tell people I was going to it, and they would look a little confused saying, ‘We have a support group for that?’ We have a whole nursing home full of people and families that could use support. So it’s changed a lot in three years, the walk and our support group. People know now there is a group of us and who to reach out to. You always hope that what you say encourages someone else and gives them hope.
“We’ve not only raised money, but also raised awareness in a huge way and that is our goal. The awareness and building the relationships with people who might need our support was priority of the group, and we’ve educated walkers, and we’ve educated the Regina office in that. We’ve always said you can’t just throw money at something, you have to have the people involved and the relationships.
“I am proud. Proud of our efforts and of our town.”
-SM.jpg)
