Princeton, NJ after Hurricane Sandy

The Parkinson’s Unity Walk staff hopes you and your loved ones weathered Hurricane Sandy safely and have fared reasonably well in its aftermath. We express compassion for all those who experienced loss or hardship during the storm and hold you in our thoughts and hearts.

The Unity Walk is held each year in Central Park but our office is in Kingston, NJ just north of Princeton. We lost power, like so many others in our area, and are grateful that PSE&G is working around the clock to restore power as quickly as possible. We consider ourselves lucky that the power in the office came back on yesterday. Most of us also lost power at home but for the most part, it has come back. We were relatively spared compared to the loss that others have experienced. Local schools have been closed all week. There are down trees everywhere, making many roads impassable. Traffic lights along major roads had been out and the lights are starting to come back.

This storm had a wide reach. So does the Unity Walk. Please let us hear from you and let us know how you’re doing.

We are back at work, grateful to be here, and busy planning for April. I can’t remember the last time I was that happy to be back on email! We hope to be receiving confirmation of the date within the next month or so. We’ll keep you posted.

As the recovery and conversation about Sandy continues,  join the talk on Facebook and twitter … Pre-hurricane in search of flashlights and D-batteries. Tips. Closure of Central Park. Michelle Charlesworth out in the Frankenstorm. Post-hurricane Jersey Strong and We heart NY. Closing Bell. How to help after the superstorm. Be Prepared. Rainbow shining over Manhattan.

You know it’s official when the hashtag is declared.  Drum roll please… here’s the first ever #puw2013 tweet.

Here in our office, we’re always asking, is it April yet?  It’s not, of course, but we are still already excited about our next Walk!  It will be #19, we are not getting any younger.  It’s easy to be this excited when every year, we see how much can be done, together.

PUW 2013 Registration is officially open.  The website is now up and running and we can’t wait to work with both long standing and new walkers.  Yes 2013 is open even before receiving The Date.  We do everything we can (they know us really well and we work very closely with them throughout all the planning), however, The Parks Department usually gives us their approval during November/December.

So if you haven’t been able to tell yet, and if you are new to our blog and online communities… first of all… welcome!  And just a little heads up that we are always excited all year round!  But even more so right now, practically doing cartwheels, after seeing those who jumped on the bandwagon this early.  This list of teams this early on is amazing!!!  Thank you to those who have already signed up and seeing their fundraising tickers and thermometers… already rising.  See, the thing is, you have a lot to do with this excitement.

And in case you are reading this and hoping we don’t tell you that the early bird gets the worm (lols!) and wondering why you should start remembering where you kept your 2012 username and password so you can register early (?) … here are a few tips about how early registration may help you.

If for some reason you can’t find the 5-subject college-ruled blue notebook you wrote in your last year’s login, we can help with your username and password.  Or was it the pink notepad one?