Good afternoon, Lewy Warriors!

March has come to an end and we're here to update you on all things CLBDI. Before we get into the big news, we wanted to let everyone know that we are almost completely sold out of our CLBDI winter hats and they will soon be gone. If you'd like to snag one for next fall/winter, now is the time to do so! We will be donating the funds raised from the hats throughout April, so you can still add to the pot. Visit the Community page or send us an email to order yours today.

Now, for the exciting news! We're absolutely over the moon to announce that we've surpassed one hundred thousand dollars in total donations to LBD research at the University of Western Ontario. In fact, the new total is actually ten thousand dollars more! We've raised an astounding $110,083.05 together. It's truly incredible what we've been able to do and we are endlessly grateful to our community and supporters for helping us get to where we are. The money goes directly to Dr. Pasternak's LBD research in Ontario and will be used to help better understand and treat the disease. As our founder always says, "Merci mille fois!" We cannot even begin to say thank you enough to everyone who has donated. We're floored by the generosity of the people in our community and we appreciate every single person who has donated their time, energy, money, and support to CLBDI over the years. We cannot wait to see where we go from here.

Speaking of Dr. Pasternak, he has graciously given us some of his time to talk about LBD, his research, and issues facing caretakers and patients alike in the new episode of CLBDI Talks. Due to some technical and scheduling difficulties, the episode did not release before this was written but it will be available by the end of next week. To make it easier to watch every episode and stay up to date, we've also created the "CLBDI Talks: Full Series Playlist" on our Youtube channel. We've got some exciting guests planned for the year and can't wait to share more video content with you.

You can find that playlist by clicking this link: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLXPk1oLipMXTfHk8fUJKEPgHa7qQe-4-t

Speaking of content, we are hoping to visit Dr. Pasternak and the folks at the University of Western Ontario in the near future and will be filming some of our visit. We hope to give you a deeper insight into the research, the team, and where your donations are going and share a peek behind the scenes of CLBDI. We also recently got in touch with the team behind "Facing The Wind", a documentary that explores the challenges faced by LBD patients and carers, and hope to do collaborate with them in the coming year. We plan to connect more with various programs, politicians, and networking opportunities across Ontario this year to build our presence and have our message heard. We've learned that we are far stronger when we connect and work together.

You can rent "Facing The Wind" online via Vimeo by clicking this link: vimeo.com/ondemand/facingthewind

By the end of April, we will have announced the next Loonie Loops walk in Waterloo as well as some other planned community events (both online and in person). We are excited to get out in our community, advocate for and meet with Lewy Warriors, and create some awareness about Lewy Body Dementia and CLBDI this year. We will be announcing events on our Facebook page first, so be sure to give us a like and a follow to get the news first.

Lastly, we wanted to send out a belated Happy Birthday message to our founder Carol. She celebrated her 85th birthday this past month. Can you believe it?! She is a prime example of someone driven to do good in the world and she shows us all that you can make a difference in your community at any age. She is a fierce Lewy Warrior, through and through. CLBDI wouldn't exist without her and we're proud to know her. We hope she had a wonderful birthday and are wishing her the best on her next trip around the sun.

We hope everyone had a wonderful March and we wish those who celebrate an early Happy Easter. We'll see you in a month!

Best,
​Joe

Hello Lewy Warriors!

It's the end of another month and we're rolling into 2025 with lots of exciting things to share. Although February was a bit of a quiet month as we prepare and plan for the warmer months (and deal with all this snow), we have been overwhelmed by the support we've received in regard to CLBDI merchandise and, more specifically, the new CLBDI Winter Hats. A huge thank you to everyone who has purchased a hat or placed an order in February. Our inventory is starting to run low on all of our merchandise, so now is the time to act if you would like to purchase anything and support LBD research in Ontario. Half of all sales goes directly to Dr. Pasternak's research at the University of Western Ontario and the first chunk is to be donated starting at the end of March.

Want to learn more? Get all the pricing information and place an order by visiting the Community page of our website or sending us an email.

We also took February as a chance to strengthen our ties with other LBD projects and programs and look forward to collaborating and connecting further with them as the year progresses. We have plans to host all sorts of community and online events, some of which will be revealed in the coming month. Keep an eye out for the next episode of "CLBDI Talks", which is slated to arrive before the end of the month, and some other fun online events on the horizon.

We've also been in touch with our liaisons at UWO and should have an amazing fundraising-related announcement to share in the next few weeks. We've been floored by the community support we've received, especially in the last few months, and can't wait to cross another milestone with the CLBDI community. More on that soon, though.

We understand that things are likely to get financially tough for many in the coming weeks and months. We wanted to remind our community members that your time and energy is as good as gold and change starts at the local level. There are many ways you can make a difference and advocate on a budget and all of them are very appreciated, impactful, and important. Reaching out to your MPs/MPPs about the future of dementia care (the CLBDI Advocacy Letter 2024 is a great place to start), volunteering, speaking to your friends and family, interacting with our posts on social media, etc. are all extremely valuable to our cause and relatively cheap ways to affect change in our community. Looking for a place to start? Want to educate yourself and find local programs you can connect with? You can find tons of free links and resources on the LBD Resources page of our website!

We hope everyone has a wonderful March ahead of them. Thanks for reading.

Best,
Joe