Meet the 2026 CARE Fund recipients

Community care starts with people who see a need and act. Across the country, local organizations are creating opportunities for people affected by Parkinson’s to connect with others and take part in programs close to home. Today, we’re celebrating the latest recipients of Parkinson Canada’s CARE Fund grants. 

The CARE Fund helps turn that local knowledge and care into action. It supports organizations developing health, wellness, and educational programs, along with community-care models that improve quality of life for people living with Parkinson’s and their care partners. By prioritizing diverse and underserved communities, CARE Fund helps make essential resources and coordinated care more accessible across Canada. 

Care that meets local needs 

This year’s funded initiatives respond to a range of community needs, from support groups and wellness programs to outreach and other forms of accessible, community-based care. Recipients span the country this year, reaching communities across Canada. 

Each recipient brings its own experience, ideas, and commitment to the work. With funding from CARE Fund, these organizations can strengthen their programs and help more people affected by Parkinson’s access resources in their communities. 

Community by community 

Here are some of the organizations and programs receiving CARE Fund grants this year: 

• Cummings Jewish Centre for Seniors: Awareness through Movement: A Feldenkrais-based program in Montreal that helps people with Parkinson’s and their care partners build body awareness, balance, and confidence through gentle, guided movement. 

• U-Turn Parkinson’s: Empower-U Connect: A live online exercise and wellness program for people with Parkinson’s in Winnipeg, pairing instructor-led classes with a “coffee and conversation” session to build peer connection from home. 

• BC Brain Wellness Program: In-person group exercise classes: Multimodal exercise classes at UBC, co-taught with kinesiology students, combining movement, balance, and cognitive tasks for people with Parkinson’s and other chronic brain conditions. 

• Support for Memory Loss Foundation: Smart and Safe: In-person and virtual workshops in Toronto teaching people with Parkinson’s and their care partners to use AI tools confidently and safely in everyday life. 

• Designed to Stay: A Toronto initiative turning an architect-authored home-adaptation guide into an accessible website and educational modules for Parkinson Canada, helping people with Parkinson’s and their families adapt their homes for safer, more independent living. 

• NeuroMotrix–NeuroBoxe: A 12-week virtual adapted boxing program for French-speaking people with Parkinson’s across Canada, combining boxing technique and functional training to address motor and non-motor symptoms, fall prevention and social connection. 

• Movement Matters, Sheridan College: A free exercise and rehabilitation program in Brampton offering in-person and virtual sessions that help people with Parkinson’s build strength, mobility, and confidence, while giving Sheridan kinesiology students hands-on clinical experience. 

• Parkinson’s South Georgian Bay–Rise Again: A falls prevention and recovery program in Collingwood that helps people with Parkinson’s build balance, strength, and confidence, and learn safe techniques for getting up after a fall. 

• VON Windsor-Essex–Striding Strong for Parkinson’s: A 13-week education and pole-walking program in Essex, Ontario, combining a lunch-and-learn session on safe mobility with a 12-week community walking program for people with Parkinson’s and their care partners. 

Community starts here 

Congratulations to all of this year’s CARE Fund recipients, and thank you for the knowledge, care, and commitment you bring to your communities. We look forward to seeing these programs put care into action for people affected by Parkinson’s.