NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 27, 2015
London Photographer to Cycle Across Canada for the Alzheimer’s Society
London Ontario – Professional photographer Don Martel of London Ontario will cycle from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean this summer to teach photography, share stories, and encouraged Canadians to donate to the Alzheimer’s Society as he makes new memories for lost memories. Starting in Vancouver on June 5, 2015 Don with start his journey of over 8000 kms, ride through 10 provinces, conducting one-day photography workshops wherever he can.
The workshops will help keep food on the campfire as he journeys across Canada making new images and memories. Don plans to be in Nova Scotia by the end of August. This trip was inspired by April Erickson and Marcel Pennington of B.C. who embarked on a four-month bike ride across Canada to raise money for the Alzheimer Society of B.C. in 2012. Don met them at a grocery store in Temagami in Northern Ontario and hearing their story, invited them to stay with his photography workshop group for the night, giving the couple a comfortable night’s rest. In the summer of 2014, April and Marcel were married in the Okanagan Valley of B.C. Don photographed the wedding with payment being a custom build bike by Marcel.
That bike got the wheels turning. Don was increasingly aware that the memories held by his mother-in-law, Marjorie Symons were slipping away due to Alzheimer’s. And so, the bike ride will be repeated with new stories, new images, and new donations to the Alzheimer’s Society.