Purple Tea Party<\/a><\/span> at Huntsville Place Mall and continues throughout April with the purple boot campaign, in which people can drop their spare change in the purple boots placed around town, and the purple painted pedicure campaign, during which a portion of proceeds from pedicures at participating local spas are donated to the cause. It all culminates with the hike in May during National Hospice Palliative Care Week.<\/p>\nHospice Huntsville board president Gord Schakelaar opened the hike with these words: \u201cAs we look at our sign behind me it says “Sharing the Journey”. Thank you for the opportunity to share the journey you have taken with your friends and loved ones as we have welcomed them to Algonquin Grace. In the 14th century, a journey meant a trip of six days or longer, a desert travel. A modern definition would be a trip without regard to how long it takes. It didn’t matter how long the journey was, 106 residents have journeyed with us last year, thank you for allowing us to travel your journey with you. Thank you to all of you for joining us today.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than 200 people participated in the hike, which began from a new venue – River Mill Park – this year. It was a snowy Sunday, but spirited purple costumes brightened the day and a warm-up led by Motivations Fitness got everyone moving. One Hospice Huntsville volunteer, Judy, described the scene like this: \u201cOn a damp, chilly day it was very heartwarming to look out and see the crowd of purple-clad hikers at River Mill Park. When the piper started to play Amazing Grace snow started falling\u2026there were not many dry eyes in that crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t\t