Puzzles To Remember: December 2010

Puzzles To Remember

PUZZLES TO REMEMBER is a youth led 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias through jigsaw puzzles, cognitive engagement, and social connection. Led by Executive Director Hailey Richman, Puzzles To Remember has distributed more than 236,000 puzzles valued at over $2 million to more than 5,000 memory care communities, nursing homes, veterans facilities, senior centers, and other organizations across all 50 states and 16 countries. Our programs have benefited more than one million people while diverting approximately 148 tons of puzzles from landfills through donation and reuse. Puzzles To Remember also promotes intergenerational connection through Puzzle Time, which brings young people together with individuals living with dementia for shared puzzle solving, conversation, and companionship. Our mission is to provide engaging and purposeful activities that promote connection, participation, and joy while enhancing the quality of life of those affected by dementia. Donate Puzzles If you have puzzles you would like to donate, please contact us at Puzzles2Remember@gmail.com. We will help identify a location where your puzzles can benefit individuals living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. Donation acknowledgment letters are available upon request.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Springbok's Puzzles To Remember are "making a difference" in the lives of Alzheimer's patients

The Springbok Puzzles To Remember are doing just what I had hoped for. Here’s an email I recently received:

“Hi Max, just wanted to let you know we received the 2 puzzles you were so nice to send to Sunrise in Cohasset. Thank you so much!! Your choice was perfect, was so fun to try them out with the residents yesterday, and what a success. Watching them respond to getting a piece in was wonderful, the large sized pieces are so much easier. They marveled at the large beautiful finished puzzles, and even liked just running their hands over them. Looking forward to working the puzzles with more residents today, you truly are making a difference in people’s lives.

We are going to be ordering some additional Puzzles to Remember the residents love them so much. The “Moonlight” one really inspires residents to reminisce, they think it is beautiful and even want to take a picture of it before we have to break it apart.”
Dana B.

Thanks, Springbok, for making my dream become a reality!

AARP Posts Great Article about PuzzlesToRemember and Alzheimer's Disease

By Max Wallack
Puzzles to Remember
The AARP has published a great article about PuzzlesToRemember. It describes the history of the founding of PuzzlesToRemember right up to the recent production of puzzles made specially for Alzheimer's patients, in a joint venture of Springbok and PuzzlesToRemember. You can read the article here.

Max Wallack is a student at Boston University Academy. His great grandmother, Gertrude, suffered from Alzheimer's disease. Max is the founder of PUZZLES TO REMEMBER. PTR is a project that provides puzzles to nursing homes and veterans institutions that care for Alzheimer's and dementia patients.