WINGHAM, ONT. -- Peter Carter hasn’t missed a Walk for Alzheimer’s for a long time, and won’t let COVID-19 stop him from fundraising this year, either.

“People that would give $100, are giving more. One gentlemen asked me what he gave last year, I said $200. He said, this year it’s $500. It makes you cry, the generosity of people,” says the Teeswater-area senior.

Carter really wanted to raise $80,000 in this his 10th year of fundraising. He easily surpassed it, topping $85,000 raised for the Grey-Bruce and Huron Alzheimer’s Society since 2010.

“I’m still getting cheques in the mail,” he says.

He has become one of Canada’s top Alzheimer’s fundraisers in memory of a dear friend, who had Alzheimer’s.

Carter remembers one of his last visits with Doug Kennedy, when Kennedy hadn’t recognized anyone for months.

“I took him up to a window, and said to him, you know who I am now, don’t you. And he said to me, after a moment of hesitation, well Pete if you don’t know who your name by now, I’m not going to tell you,” Carter remembers.

Last year’s Walk for Alzheimer’s raised $6.2 million for Alzheimer’s support and research.

Cathy Ritsema is the executive director of the Huron County chapter of the Alzheimer Society.

“Being isolated is one of the worst things that can happen to someone who is living with dementia. So, it’s really important for us to continue to support them, and we are virtually, as best we can,” she says.

The walk itself will be different this year. No groups gathering, rather individual walkers, physically distancing for a good cause.

In Midwestern Ontario, Peter Carter will be thinking of his friend Doug, as he walks this Sunday.

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