Day 5 :: Stroll In The Park For Kids Who Bark

What began as a morning filled with much anticipation, turned slowly to deep disappointment with the ticking of the clock. After being contacted earlier in the week by Jack FM, a meeting, interview, and photo op had been planned for this morning in Springbank Park. I was pinching myself that I, of all people, could have such a stroke of luck and valuable exposure for my Stroll In The Park For Kids Who Bark (in support of Animalert) charity fundraiser. But as the time crept along, I realized with disenchantment that I had been stood up.

So with my chin down in my boots, I struck out on my walk. However, the gloominess didn’t last long as I realized I was back in my beloved park sharing the glorious, sunny morning with singing birds, breakfasting Canada geese and other little critters, and lots of folks and their fur-kids.

In just one month since I last trekked through my favourite areas of the park, I noticed some subtle but welcomed changes. Wild and overgrown areas have been cleared creating new picnic areas and pathways and repairs to problem spots have been made.

I recognized many friendly faces from my daily walks of the past and stopped to chat and catch up on the news of the park and as well, met some new friends along the way. [Nifty (right) and Muffin and their Mom & Dad]

I walked a total of 8.5 kilometers this morning and stopped to chat with lots of fur-kid folks and invite them to join in and support my fundraising challenge.

In addition to personally donating .50 cents per kilometer for every kilometer I walk in the month of September, I invite folks to show their support by sponsoring me either by cents/kilometer or in a lump sum. For added convenience, I have created a GoFundMe ** account (for my American and International family and friends), but for my local supporters I am happy to accept cheques (made payable to Animalert), bank transfer via e-mail, and cash.

I’ll be heading back to my beloved Springbank Park tomorrow morning as once again I will STROLL IN THE PARK FOR KIDS WHO BARK!!!

**Please note that it is not possible to provide tax receipts for any donations made through the GFM website.