Puzzles To Remember: Upper Valley Memory Cafe

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.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Upper Valley Memory Cafe

By Max Wallack

Puzzles to Remember

One Saturday per month, the Upper Valley Memory Cafe meets in Lebanon NH.
Their goals are:
Encourage peer interaction among persons with dementia and their caregivers

Offer a positive and enjoyable group socialization experience

Convey information about Alzheimer's disease and related disorders

Provide an opportunity to interact with Cafe staff and our student volunteer in an informal and relaxed atmosphere

This week the participants worked on PuzzlesToRemember, jigsaw puzzles with large, brightly colored pieces, created specifically for dementia patients.

Two of the participants, Willy and Alana have worked on Springok PuzzlesToRemember previously, and the Memory Cafe had sent their photos, which were placed on the Springbok PTR boxes. Willy and Alana were the stars! Their photos were on the boxes! They autographed the boxes for other participants. Here is a picture of Willy and Alana:

To view other participants enjoying themselves at the Upper Valley Memory Cafe, click here.

Memory Cafes are very beneficial to both patients and care partners!

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.