Yuma Arizona Proclaims April as Parkinson's Disease Awareness Month

On Monday, April 2nd, 2012, both the Yuma County Board of Supervisors and the City of Yuma proclaimed April as Parkinson's Disease Awareness Month.  I wish I could say I was the architect, but I wasn't.  I sent emails to everyone, but my local Parkie friend Greg Gardner made it happen.  

City of Yuma Proclamation

Greg is our local Support Group leader and has been a Yuman for many, many years.  He worked in local radio before his forced "retirement" and knows every politician in our community.  I, on the other hand, am a fairly recent Yuman and until last Monday, had never met any of our local politicos.


The Board of Supervisor's met at 9 am and Greg and I received the official Proclamation together.

Greg is the tall man in yellow shirt next to me

Our support group was meeting at Noon and Mayor Alan Krieger of Yuma joined us for lunch and officially presented the City's Proclamation.  

Greg, Mayor Krieger and Yuma Bev 

After reading the Proclamation, Greg and the Mayor turned to me and said we'd like to present this Proclamation to Bev Ribaudo, for all the work she does for Parkinson's.  It was an emotional moment for me and I could barely squeak out "Thank you".

Mayor Krieger and Yuma Bev

Board member Lenore Stuart also joined us for lunch and presented the County Proclamation to our Group.

Greg and BOS member Lenore Stuart

We had a great lunch and the best desserts and Greg did the humor.  He told the Board of Supervisor's that the reason he was wearing yellow was because he was the top banana of our Group.

Greg Gardner and Yuma Bev with Proclamation

All in all, it was a great day!

Thank you for reading this story, I hope you enjoyed it. This is just one of a hundred stories in my book, Parkinson's Humor - Funny Stories about My Life with Parkinson's Disease. Please consider purchasing a copy from your favorite online book seller (There are links on my website YumaBev.com). Thank you and have a Happy Parkie Day!