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Why You Should Listen to This Episode: Doug Pickard has spent more than 13 years proving that boxing gloves and conga drums can push back against a disease with no cure, turning rhythm itself into therapy for people living with Parkinson's. Virginia Worcester is making sure no child in School District 69 goes hungry on the weekend, building a 100 percent volunteer program that now feeds nearly 100 families a month. 

This Episode Features:

(06:47) Virginia Worcester, founder of the Hands & Hearts Food Program, joins the podcast. What began in 1997 as a Christmas hamper drive for five or ten families has grown into a fully volunteer-run program delivering weekly food hampers to nearly 100 families across School District 69, all of it funded entirely by donations with zero administration costs. Virginia explains how the program partners with the school district to keep families anonymous and dignified, why she insists on purchasing every item rather than accepting donated goods, and how the need has grown from 75 to 98 families in just the past year. Find out more about the Hands & Hearts Food Program.

(20:35) Doug Pickard of Parksville joins the podcast. A coach, advocate, and drum circle leader, Doug has spent more than 13 years helping people with Parkinson's fight back through exercise, from his Rock Steady Boxing affiliate to his own drumming program, Dopa Beats. Doug walks through how a single client in a now-closed Parksville gym led him to become one of the first Canadian ambassadors for the Davis Phinney Foundation, why large purposeful movement and rhythm can cause real-time changes in the brain, and what it was like presenting his work to 170 people at the Movement Fair in Las Vegas. He also talks about Pedaling for Parkinson's, his Zoom cycling program now reaching participants as far away as Paraguay. Learn more about Dopa Beats.

Episode Quotes:

“When you give me $100, you know that $100 is going directly to buy food for the kids in our community.” - Virginia Worcester

“If you don’t learn about the disease, if you don’t learn about Parkinson’s, you can’t be as effective as possible. You have to learn how to be empathetic and understand what they’re going through.” - Doug Pickard

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Episode Sponsors: Ian Lindsay & Associates, Thrifty Foods Parksville, Fireside Books & Parksville Beachfest

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