{"id":21454,"date":"2025-07-12T19:34:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-12T19:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-parkinsons-support-group-holds-its-first-vitality-walk-and-fundraiser\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:06:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:06:05","slug":"durango-parkinsons-support-group-holds-its-first-vitality-walk-and-fundraiser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-parkinsons-support-group-holds-its-first-vitality-walk-and-fundraiser\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango Parkinson\u2019s Support Group holds its first vitality walk and fundraiser"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"About
About 75 people attended the Durango Parkinson\u2019s Support Group\u2019s first ever vitality walk fundraiser at Memorial Park on Saturday, which was organized by the Parkinson\u2019s Association of the Rockies. The group has already raised nearly $25,000. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Durango Parkinson\u2019s Support Group held its first ever vitality walk and fundraiser on Saturday in coordination with the Parkinson\u2019s Association of the Rockies.<\/p>\n

The fundraising target is $29,000, the same amount the Parkinson\u2019s Association of the Rockies spends in Durango annually. By the time the whistle blew signaling the walk has started, the group had already nearly reached its fundraising goal.<\/p>\n

Jodi Brown, CEO of Parkinson\u2019s Association of the Rockies, said the group has already raised nearly $25,000.<\/p>\n

Parkinson\u2019s disease is a neurological disorder that manifests through symptoms such as tremors, stiffness and cognitive issues.<\/p>\n

Durango Parkinson\u2019s Support Group member Diane Scott previously told The Durango Herald<\/em> the disorder has a tendency to slow and shrink one\u2019s body movements, and exercise is a crucial way to mitigate symptoms<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The statewide Parkinson\u2019s group holds similar walks across Colorado and in Wyoming, she said. It typically holds five walks in Colorado per year, with Durango marking a sixth walk this year and two more planned, totaling eight walks.<\/p>\n

She said the money raised at walks helps people with Parkinson\u2019s across the state live thriving lives and pays for education, exercise support groups and an equipment loan program.<\/p>\n

Parkinson\u2019s Association of the Rockies hosts 85 weekly exercise classes and six to seven monthly support groups, two large conferences and has social workers on staff for additional support \u2013 all of it free of charge to people with Parkinson\u2019s, their care partners and their families.<\/p>\n

Parkinson\u2019s Association of the Rockies staff members are boots on the ground, doing direct work with people with Parkinson\u2019s, while national organizations are leading efforts to fund the search for a cure, she said.<\/p>\n

She added the money raised in Durango will be used to support people and families in Durango.<\/p>\n

\"Deb
Deb Walker, left, and Diane Scott are members of the Durango Parkinson\u2019s Support Group, which along with the Parkinson\u2019s Association of the Rockies held the group\u2019s first ever vitality walk and fundraiser in Durango on Saturday. Walker and Scott helped run the event and coordinated the walk. Pictured, they work out at the Good Fight Boxing Gym during a punch therapy class for people fighting movement disorders associated with Parkinson\u2019s. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span>Jerry McBride<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

She said the vitality walk has replaced a discontinued Parkinson\u2019s fundraiser that used to be held during the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI find the mountain towns just have such unique, wonderful people. So we love that,\u201d she said. \u201cWe love coming up here and helping support them. They\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phyllis Leverich, Western Slope community outreach coordinator for the Parkinson\u2019s Association of the Rockies, said Durango people are determined and eager to show others what they are capable of.<\/p>\n

Wendy Wolslenger, a registered nurse who knows several people diagnosed with Parkinson\u2019s, said she joined the walk on Saturday to raise money and awareness for a good cause.<\/p>\n

Parkinson\u2019s is hard to live with, she said. One person she knows used to be a very active person, and now they are less so. But they\u2019re doing all they can to keep moving.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the local boxing club, and boxing has been proven to help people with Parkinson\u2019s, so they\u2019ve joined the boxing club, and we see improvements,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She was talking about The Good Fight Boxing Club, owned by Katy Kopec, an enthusiastic supporter of the Durango Parkinson\u2019s Support Group.<\/p>\n

Kopec, who also walked to support the Parkinson\u2019s community, said the fundraiser will help support the Parkinson\u2019s boxing program, the Durango Parkinson\u2019s Support Group and other local resources.<\/p>\n

The support group is full of \u201cawesome\u201d people who are strong advocates for Parkinson\u2019s awareness, she said.<\/p>\n

The walk was a short 30-minute stroll from the south end of Memorial Park to the train tracks and back, after which a raffle was held and cake was cut.<\/p>\n

Wolslenger said she hopes the walk grows larger every year and brings in more donations, and she hopes someday a cure to Parkinson\u2019s will be found.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fundraising goal is $29,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[408,364,950,28,61],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-charity","tag-community","tag-durango","tag-headlines","tag-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21454"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21454\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77317,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21454\/revisions\/77317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21454"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}