Joanne and Machu Picchu

Despite the holiday season and the many demands on our time and budget, people are still generously making donations to The Arthritis Society. Today I am making a deposit to The Arthritis Society in the amount of $863! Thank you so much to the following people for their support: Peter and Shelley Frombach; Susan and Dan Zivec; JoAnn Buhr; Pete and Ev Peterson; Bill and Bebe Gillis; Harry Joynes; Verity Willway; Art and Marj Wakabayashi; Shirley and Larry Schneider; Kim Langston; Merlin Peterson; Ken and Joyce Ellis; Gary Thomas; Ann and Colin Nicolson; Al and Millie Dickson and Muriel Griffin. Thank you as well to Carla Lowthian, Marie Roman, Brenda Brick, Alison Deters, and Marj Farmer for purchasing Arthritis Society Christmas cards. The spirit of Christmas and giving is certainly alive and well, and it is very life affirming to be part of it. I have a most wonderful running friend who is originally from Chile. She is currently fundraising for her third Joints in Motion marathon. I was so touched (but not surprised!) to hear her recently say that the thing she likes most about Canada is that she is free to help people here. Wow - that still brings tears to my eyes! Happy New Year to you all - I wish you all a year to be grateful for!!