Calgary mayor kept busy at 4 charity walks Sunday

Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi took part in four charity walks on Sunday. (CBC)

The summer is shaping up to be a very busy season for Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi when it comes to community engagement.

He participated in four charity walks alone on Sunday ? a feat that he said would probably happen a few more times over the coming months.

"So I started this morning at Betty's Walk and Run for ALS, then the World Partnership Walk for Global Poverty at Prince's Island, then Stanley Park for the Telus Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk and now here we are at the Walk to Fight Arthritis," said Nenshi from Fish Creek Provincial Park.

He said while his weekends are filling up quickly, he is just glad to see so many Calgarians come out for a good cause.

Betty?s Run for ALS

Organizers raised $475,000 Sunday at the Betty?s Run for ALS, which is $10,000 more than last year but just short of their $500,000 target.

Hundreds of people showed up at North Glenmore Park for the five-kilometre walk Sunday morning ? including teenager Alex Bean, who ran to raise money in memory of her friend's father.

?Her dad died five years ago and so we're out to support her and her family,? said Bean. ?We're on her basketball team ? we're teammates of hers so we're out to support her."

ALS ? also known as Lou Gherig's disease ? is a progressive disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed.

TELUS Walk to Cure Diabetes

Close to 1,500 Calgarians came out to walk, run or stroll to help raise money for a for Type 1 diabetes cure Sunday.

Close to 1,500 Calgarians came out for the TELUS Walk to Cure Diabetes Sunday at Stanley Park. (Falice Chin/CBC )

The five kilometre event started at Sunday morning in Stanley Park.

Kim Gervais turned out because the disease affects her family.

?My daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when she was five years old,? she said.

?She's almost nine. She spends a lot of time and effort monitoring her blood glucose levels, taking insulin, counting her food to make sure she can be as healthy as she can be."

The goal is to raise $464,000. Volunteer chair Heather Miller said on Sunday morning they are 65 per cent of the way there and will continue to accept donations at jdrf.ca.

Walk to Fight Arthritis

A few hundred people also gathered at Fish Creek Provincial Park Sunday for the five-kilometre Walk to Fight Arthritis.

Hundreds came out to Fish Creek Provincial Park Sunday for the five-kilometre Walk to Fight Arthritis. (CBC)

The goal is to raise $100,000 with a good percentage of that going towards educating the public on arthritis.

?The biggest thing is breaking the perception that it's an old person's disease, which is completely untrue, said walk co-ordinator Colin Chubachi.

?It can affect anyone of any age.?

Currently there are an estimated half a million people living with arthritis in Alberta and the Northwest Territories.

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