The Trek for Tourette 2019 will be held across Canada on March 24th in most locations. This Trek is a perfect opportunity to raise awareness. We get out. We walk. We talk. We get people talking.
Some are curious as to where the funding from this event goes. I would love to tell you about a few of the most significant programs and events we offer.
One of these programs are the virtual support groups offered to moms of youth with Tourette, to youth with Tourette, and to adults with Tourette. The groups may be virtual but the PEOPLE are NOT. These are real individuals who get together and talk about what life with Tourette, or with loving someone with Tourette, is like for them. These groups, for many among them, become a real-life community, or even, a family. By registering or donating you can make a tangible difference in these people’s lives, and we thank you for that.
With your help, Tourette Canada also organizes in-service presentations. We aim to educate and bring awareness to schools; to teachers and to students. Both our trained volunteers, and your assistance with funding make it possible for kids with Tourette to be better understood and to live a greater classroom experience. The teachers whose eyes are opened can now lead the class with a comprehension and direction they hadn’t experience before.
We are coming up on year two of Camp sTiC Together, hosted by Camp Maple Leaf, for youth with Tourette, and now for siblings as well. Those who attended year one left with countless stories to tell. The experience marked by new friendships and unforgettable memories is one we hope to duplicate in 2019. Campfires, rock climbing. canoeing and more, are all the kinds of experiences these kids take home, with the knowledge of what it’s like to “Tic Together.”
Tourette Canada, with your help, hosts what has been a yearly National Conference aimed towards those with Tourette and their loved ones. This year’s Conference will be the result of Winnipeg’s hard work. Conference is a loved way to gather in-person. I’ve heard the best possible impressions from those who have attended in previous years. People with Tourette attend a well prepared weekend where we get to tic in harmony. It’s possible to feel alone in a room full of people because there’s no one else like us, but not at Conference, as Tourette, the thing that made us feel so alone, is the one thing that brings us together.
The Trek itself is possibly the biggest event that many of us look forward to, because getting together, being able to walk alongside those who tic or those who support them, is a binding experience that keeps us coming back every year. Ticcing with no explanation needed can be a unique feeling. Collaborating as a community is an event eager to be experienced. Having our voices heard, one foot in front of the other, one tic at a time, we find the future of what living with Tourette can be.
It’s the Trek for Tourette where you find yourself walking among those that the funds you raise will be assisting. Remember their faces, and please, take a moment to register for Trek for Tourette 2019, as it is our only national fundraiser.
www.tourette.ca/trek
Written by: Melissa C. Water
