While many fall and winter event planners are being faced with the possibility of coming up with Plan B for their upcoming fundraisers due to Delta, the AWARE Dallas group has announced its 2021-2022 board and recipients.
When it was founded in 1989, AWARE was made up of “a small group of passionate and civic-minded Dallas women” to fight Alzheimer’s which was pretty much unknown. Like many other diseases (i.e. breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, etc.), it went under the radar and was dealt with privately by the family. But like those other diseases, Alzheimer’s emerged to the fundraising forefront for research and treatments thanks to organizations like AWARE and the baby boomers marching lock-step into the AARP stage of life.
And just as the times have changed, so has AWARE. It’s no longer made up of “a small group of passionate and civic-minded Dallas women.” Just as Alzheimer’s has affected men and women, so AWARE has expanded its membership and leadership to include men.
Making up this year’s AWARE board of directors are President Karisti Julia, First VP Jack Broyles, Second VP Maurice Ballew, Treasurer Emily Collins, Recording Secretary Carol Stabler, Membership Sharon Walker, Grant Review Chair Jolie Humphrey, Finance/ Immediate Past Grant Chair Stacey Angel, Corresponding Secretary Audette Rackley, Communications/ Website Veronica Shanklin, Directory/ Yearbook/ Name Tags Barbara Mathes, Programs Karen Koop, Programs Margo Crofford, Long Range/ Strategic Planning/ Grant Review Chair-Elect Gail Plummer, Inspirational Nicole Bates and Immediate Past President Barbara Glass.
Over the years the organization has provided more than $13.5M for its mission to “to fight Alzheimer’s.” And this year’s fundraising efforts will benefit the following:
- Baylor Scott And White Dallas Foundation: Salary support for the Baylor AT&T Memory Center to provide a trained care navigation specialist on site at the Center. At the point of care, patients and families are provided with disease education, caregiver training and support groups, elder law and financial planning, and a 24/7 helpline.
- Casa De Vida: Support for Casa de Vida, a program at NorthPark Presbyterian Church giving respite relief to caregivers by providing trained volunteer one-on-one care for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
- Center For BrainHealth At UT Dallas: Support for production of a series of educational videos, Alzheimer’s Voices: Creating a New Narrative, distributed worldwide via the Center’s YouTube channel, that will change the conversation about Alzheimer’s by communicating a strengths-based approach with testimonials to help others navigate a positive path.
- Dallas Arboretum And Botanical Garden: Support for expansion of the Memory Garden nature program that incorporates horticulture, conversations, and crafts to enrich the life of those affected by Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
- Dallas Museum Of Art: Support for Meaningful Moments, a DMA program designed to provide participants with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias and their families or caregivers with ways to engage in art, providing a continuing cultural opportunity regardless of the abilities.
- Ed-U-Care: Support for the annual Compassion Fatigue Symposium designed to educate caregivers about compassion fatigue and build resilient professionals and family members caring for individuals with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
- For Love And Art: Support for Celebrating the Art Experience for Seniors to bring the art experience to people with cognitive impairment and limited mobility in long-term care facilities to stimulate art enrichment and memories while empowering caregivers to love people in creative and transformative ways.
- Jewish Family Service: Support for the older adults program staff to provide in-home mental health counseling, care management, and daily living support to older adults with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, allowing them to remain living in their own home.
- Juliette Fowler Communities: Support for facility dementia care programs, including the expansion of I’m Still Here, a six-month intensive dementia care training program for staff members throughout the Fowler communities.
- Plano Symphony Orchestra: Support for Healing Notes, a free music-therapy program targeted toward low-income seniors dealing with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
- Stomping Ground Comedy: Support for the Improv for Caregivers program, a therapeutic and psycho-educational workshop that uses improvisational comedy techniques to teach caregivers effective communication skills that are specific to the needs of Alzheimer’s patients.
- The Senior Source: Support for the Senior Companion Program matching trained volunteers with low-income individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and their families needing assistance with meals, errands, and light housekeeping, providing caregivers with respite and/or time to work outside the home.
- Texas Health Resources: Support for the outpatient memory care program, Lifelines, to provide cognitive stimulation therapy, a short-term evidence-based intervention for individuals with mild to moderate dementia.
- Texas Winds Musical Outreach: Support for the Concerts for Seniors program providing interactive concerts in 95 nursing homes and adult day care facilities bringing joy, relief from isolation, and peace to individuals affected by memory loss.
- The Meadows Museum At Southern Methodist University: Support for the Meadows Museum memory care programs, Connections and Re-connections, which provide social and emotional support to those with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, their caregivers and partners through engagement with art.
- The University Of Texas Foundation For The Callier Center: Support for research to develop Therabeat, an easy-to-use and cost-effective mobile application designed to improve the cognitive and psychological well-being of Alzheimer’s disease patients.
- The University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center: Support for a clinical trial research program to determine whether noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) technology is an effective treatment for patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and associated memory problems.
- Visiting Nurses Association Of Texas: Support for the VNA RN nurse navigators to evaluate clients of the Meals on Wheels program with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s and other dementias for need of a higher level of care.
- Wilshire Baptist Church: Support for the Friday Friends program addressing the need to provide respite to those who care for a dementia relative at home, and who have little or no assistance for relieving them of the constant care and supervision of their loved one, while providing a stimulating day of art, music and games for the individual with Alzheimer’s.
- Myrna D. Schlegel AWARE Scholarship Fund: Scholarship support for nursing students at Baylor University, Texas Woman’s University, and Texas Christian University toward studies in gerontology, especially in the field of dementia.
* Graphic provided by AWARE Dallas