Want to have lunch in betweent your visits to the informational booths along “Margot Zobel Way?” The Unity Walk has arranged for four food trucks – Eddie’s Pizza Truck, Gorilla Cheese, Rickshaw Dumpling Bar and The Treats Truck - to sell moderately priced, light fare during the day. We hope you stop by and enjoy these options!

If you’d like a cup of coffee the day of the Walk, stop by the Chock Full o’ Nuts coffee trucks located at the Bandshell, near Registration and further down “Margot Zobel Way.” We are grateful to Chock Full o’ Nuts for providing this generous donation of coffee.

Will there still be complimentary snacks at The Unity Walk? Absolutely! Snacks and bottled water will be served at the Refreshments booth on “Margot Zobel Way.” Bottled water will also be available at the Water Station by the Bandshell.

So bring your family and friends AND your appetite to the Unity Walk on April 28th!

It’s always great to step back and take a moment to acknowledge important milestones. The 18th Parkinson’s Unity Walk is two months from today and we look forward to seeing you in Central Park on April 28th!

We reached another important milestone this weekend. The Unity Walk passed the $400,000 mark! We have more people registered for the Walk and more funds raised compared to last year at this time. We are grateful to all the supporters of the Unity Walk and thank you for the terrific job you are doing fundraising on behalf of the Walk.

Mark the milestones in your own fundraising efforts – whether it’s the number of donors, the amount you’ve raised or tracking how close you are to your fundraising goal. Acknowledge your efforts and remember to thank your donors!

I was in Central Park yesterday preparing for the Unity Walk. At the same time, the Parks Department was also preparing for the arrival of spring. The Bandshell area was largely closed off, with workmen cutting off branches high in the treetops. My work – focusing on the details of the Walk – was much less daring but also important. I met with the vendor who provides security services at the Unity Walk to show him the new Walk route. His team is ready to help us stay on the Walk route and ensure everyone’s safety. I also met with our contact at the Parks Department and our lead volunteer responsible for the golf carts to discuss revisions to the golf cart route. Our goal is to provide assistance to those who require it, using the best and safest route for our participants and everyone else using the park that day. More updates to follow.

Did you know that 3 out of 4 people with Parkinson’s don’t get their medications on time in the hospital? Or that 70% of hospital staff are unaware of drugs that are unsafe for people with PD? NPF has created the Aware in Care kit to help you and your loved ones navigate a hospital stay safely. Get the kit. Know the Facts. Be Aware in Care.

We received many requests for Unity Walk brochures and appreciate all your help in spreading the word about the Walk. The brochures will arrive at our office next week and given the volume of the requests, it can take a couple of weeks to send them out. You can expect to receive the brochures you requested by the end of February. That still gives you two months to get others to join your team and collect donations. Haven’t requested your brochures yet? Click here to have brochures mailed to you. Thank you for your support of the Unity Walk!

The Parkinson’s Unity Walk is just three months away! It’s almost 60 degrees today in New York and spring is in the air. If you haven’t done so already, this is a perfect time to register. Registered already? Time to gear up your fundraising efforts. Log into “My HQ” for next steps or click here for fundraising ideas.

People living with Parkinson’s disease, along with their families and caregivers, live with the impact of this disease 365 days a year. So while the Parkinson’s Unity Walk is in April, fundraising takes place all year round. So does the research we support.

This year, with your help, over $1.5M was raised for Parkinson’s research. Progress has been made but there is still much more that needs to be done to find the cause and cure for this debilitating neurological disease. Your donation can get us closer to a cure.

Give now before December 31st! You have two weeks to make your secure online donation and receive the tax benefit for 2011. 100% of your donation goes to research. You can:

* Sponsor a walker

* Make a donation in honor or memory of a loved one

Consistent with the word “unity” in our name, the Parkinson’s Unity Walk brings our community together to raise awareness and funds for research, and distributes the money YOU donate among the seven major Parkinson’s organizations in the US.

Thank you for your continued support and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season.

Helaine Isaacs
PUW Event Director

We are eagerly waiting for confirmation of the Unity Walk date from the NYC Parks Department and call our contact there every day to see if he has any news for us. We had hoped we would have received the date already and should get word any time now. We know from the calls coming into our office that many of you are also interested in marking that date on your calendar. We promise to let you know as soon as we hear back about the date.

We are lucky that our event is “grandfathered” in Central Park; new fundraising walks are not even allowed to apply for a permit. We need to work within the Parks Department’s process for arranging their calendar.

We are grateful to the enthusiastic support of our participants. Please sit tight and we expect we’ll be sharing the date with you soon.

Helaine Isaacs
PUW Event Director

The staff at the Parkinson’s Unity Walk has much to be grateful for and we know we still have a lot of work to do. We are thankful for your support of the Unity Walk and for allowing us to be part of such a committed and dedicated community. As we gather this holiday with family and friends, we wish you many reasons to be grateful.

All the best,
The PUW Staff

The money YOU raised on behalf of the Parkinson’s Unity Walk is funding important Parkinson’s research.

At a recent PUW Board meeting, we heard from two top Parkinson’s researchers in the US who are also PUW Board members – Dr. Bill Langston of the Parkinson’s Institute and Dr. Bob Burke of the Udall Center at Columbia. They summarized the research grants that are being supported by the 2011 PUW funds. They brought the research to life by explaining the importance of each study and how it relates to other current research. After the presentation, one of our Board members, who has Parkinson’s disease said this was the most hopeful he’s felt in years.

Want to learn more? Check out the grant proposals from each of the Parkinson’s foundations that benefit from the Unity Walk. Click on Archives if you are interested in reading the updates on the research grants that were awarded by PUW over the past two years.

We couldn’t have funded this research without your support – THANK YOU!