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SUNDAY IN THE PARK Reporter, Cappucino (Cappi) Tuchman Finally the day arrived - I was going to help raise money to help find a cure for Parkinson's disease. My best friend, my MOM, has this disease and I would do anything to help her get better. I wasn't too sure about getting a bunch of humans and their dogs on a 2 mile walk through Mercer County Park , AND charging them $15.00 to get up on a Sunday morning to do this ? But, it worked! It was a success! We got up real early and after picking up many boxes of bottled water (NOT Evian, but equally good) for the walkers - canine and human, we drove to the park with Barbara Schirloff, a friend of mine (though, I actually met her through my Mom). There were other volunteers there already and we all got jobs to do. The Park Commission had been most accommodating, they set up tables and chairs for us and all we had to do was to provide a Certificate of Insurance, and to promise to pick up any litter and dog-poops from the trail that Melissa Morgan marked with HOT PINK flags. Melissa is a VIP in my life, she spends many hours a week working in my house helping my Mom to get things done for this organization called Parkinson Alliance. I, of course, am a member -- I attended their Miami organizational meeting with VICTOR, the only other canine I know who is a PD -- that's Parkinson Dog. Victor's pop is Peter Morabito, and let me tell you, Victor leads a very interesting life - but that's another story. I wasn't sure how I would handle being a public figure, I was a little concerned that I would be too nervous to handle the responsibility - but I calmed down quickly. Everyone was so friendly, I got many compliments and found that if I sat under Barbara's chair, I could see the arrivals from the parking lot and greet the canines as Barbara was talking to the humans, taking their money or check and making sure they filled out all the forms. Why do humans make everything so complicated? Sign here, put your address there and then they make the forms wrong, so there is NO PLACE to 'sign' your name - even I know that a PETITION requires signatures, not just a name & address. There were some interesting combinations: one human with 2 canines, two humans with one canine, a whole family of humans with 6 canines, a bunch of humans called politicians who came to walk canines from places called, Dog Rescue. My mom explained that this was a good thing, both the politicians and the canines would get "good publicity". Relating the next part of this story, I must break the 1st commandment of good reporting: foremost, remain neutral, simply report the facts! How can anyone remain neutral when you hear how humans treat other living beings?? How can a human get rid of a 9 year old canine companion because he has become too much trouble to care for?? A canine would NEVER even think of such. I was aghast as I was hearing the stories the ladies told about rescue operations they had to do. My G_d (YES! G_d is there for ALL), how can they face themselves in the mirror…..? After filling out all the papers, we took pictures of all the walkers. The politicians had the most pictures taken - it has something to do with their 'public image' and the 'upcoming elections'. The very nice photographer from The Times (Trenton) was there, I knew him from pictures he took in my house a little while ago. My mom gave final instructions to the walkers, "come back to the table when you finish to see who won the GIFT BASKET (that MY veterinarian donated), and most important, don't forget to use the poop-baggies! Then everybody went walking. I stayed at the table with my mom, she has a sore knee and we just chatted with a couple and the puppy they brought from a place in Pennsylvania where they train PDs (Parkinson Dogs) to help PWPs . The had pictures of how they select and train puppies and I discovered that they trained my friend, Victor. Small world! We then asked a young human - 3 or 4 years old, to pull out a name from the container to give away the Gift basket, and he got the name of one of the Rescue operations - that was great because they really need stuff! I greeted everyone as they returned, all the canines were a little hot - so we served them fresh cool water. A few bigger canines were given big bowls and they tried to turn them over to lay in the water - silly kids. Everybody kept talking about how wonderful the walk was and how we will improve the next walk. I saw that one of the volunteers gave people jars with red labels to collect money for research. And they were planning the next events, a bike-a-thon, a golf tournament and something that they called a Bachelor Auction. I really don't understand that one - it was hard to figure it out, because they would break out laughing every time someone mentioned it . Silly people! I know I wrote a lot, but I am very excited. We, 40 canines, raised $700 to help our human friends to become healthy. I know that if we, four legged beings, were in charge, there would be a cure for Parkinson's disease and all the other diseases, because we would dedicate our time and energy doing something about it. I ask that you, humans, reading this report share it with your special canine friend and organize similar walks in your neighborhood. It is a fun way to do something we urgently need. CT ******************************************************************* Today’s donations for PRO-Seed Grants lead to a PD free tomorrow! ******************************************************************* Parkinson Alliance Margaret Tuchman 1250 24th Street, NW [log in to unmask] Suite 300 Princeton, NJ Washington, DC 20037 609.921.1696