Puzzles To Remember: Alzheimer's Facilities and Memory Cafes Have Been Supplied with 26,000 PUzzles

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.

Sunday, October 27, 2013

Alzheimer's Facilities and Memory Cafes Have Been Supplied with 26,000 PUzzles

By Max Wallack
Puzzles to Remember

As of today, PuzzlesToRemember has distributed over 26,000 jigsaw puzzles to Alzheimer's Facilities, Adult Day Cares, and Memory Cafes.

These puzzles have been distributed to 2149 facilities around the world. They include facilities in every state, plus Canada, Aruba, Australia, Colombia, England, France, Mexico, Poland, Singapore, and South Africa.

I am happy that these include about 55 Memory Cafes. I am a huge advocate of Memory Cafes. I believe they are immensely helpful to both those with Alzheimer's disease and their care partners.

Here is a link to many memory cafes on the Third Age Services website: http://tinyurl.com/kq9n6xg

PuzzlesToRemember recently received a grant from Youth Service America:

"The ABC Summer of Service Awards, in collaboration with Disney Friends for Change, is an initiative that inspires kids and their families to make a lasting, positive change by helping people, communities, and the planet."

This will enable me to provide additional puzzles for memory cafes and Alzheimer's facilities. If you know of such a facility that would like to receive, at no cost, two of the Springbok PuzzlesToRemember, please email me at PuzzlesToRemember@gmail.com. •

Max Wallack is a student at Boston University and a Research Intern in the Molecular Psychiatry and Aging Laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Boston University School of Medicine. 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.

He is also coauthor of "Why Did Grandma Put Her Underwear in the Refrigerator? An Explanation of Alzheimer's Disease for Children."

http://amzn.to/13FYYxh

1 Comment:

Anonymous said...: Max, I think you are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXTRAORDINARY!!! :)) I stumbled upon this while researching Computers for people with Alzheimer's; and you gave me the perfect interim gift for my aunt, who just told me yesterday how much she used to LOVE jigsaw puzzles! There are so many pictures of her Great Great nnieces and nephews she's never seen; so I am now goinnng to turn some of them into puzzles for her to keep her connected to their life journies! THANK YOU for being such an INSPIRATION to us all!!; November 26, 2013 at 1:06 PM