See Puzzle Time In Action

Watch Hailey's ABC7 Hidden Heroes Feature

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, November 29, 2015

Alzheimer's Patients Have Received Over 50,000 Puzzles

Share




By Max Wallack
Puzzles to Remember
 
I founded PuzzlesToRemember in 2007 to provide jigsaw puzzles to facilities caring for Alzheimer's and dementia patients.  That first year, I was able to donate over 800 puzzles.

Since 2007, people have continued to generously donate their gently used puzzles so that they can be sent to dementia facilities where they provide some very needed quiet times of enjoyment.

Springbok Puzzles joined my project in 2008.  We have worked together to produce the Springbok PuzzlesToRemember.  These are 12 or 36 piece puzzles with very large piece size and brightly colored, memory provoking images.  They are especially beneficial to those in middle to later stages of Alzheimer's disease.  They can provide an important sense of accomplishment.  Springbok has generously donated many of these puzzles to Alzheimer's facilities and Adult Day Care Centers.





As of this Thanksgiving weekend, PuzzlesToRemember has provided over 50,000 puzzles around the world.  I am also proud to announce that I have a new Assistant Director at PuzzlesToRemember, Hailey Richman.




Max Wallack graduated from Boston University and worked as a Research Intern in the Molecular Psychiatry and Aging Laboratory in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Boston University School of Medicine.  He is currently a student at Harvard Medical School.  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
 

Posted by Max Wallack at 5:55 PM

Be the First to Comment

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
PUZZLES TO REMEMBER was founded in 2008 by Max Wallack, in memory of his great-grandmother, Gertrude Finkelstein, who died of Alzheimer's disease in 2007.
Puzzles To Remember is registered in Massachusetts as a public charity. Contributions are welcome, and are tax deductible under sec. 501(c.)3 of the Internal Revenue Code.

For more information, write to us at Puzzles2Remember@gmail.com