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Saturday marked our first Memory Walk kickoff event of the summer. Our party at Samaritan Keep Home in Watertown was an opportunity for Memory Walk teams to register, learn more about walk, pick materials and meet other teams. For the second consecutive year, Chapter Volunteer Diane Charlebois has coordinated a Memory Ride to coincide with the party. The Memory Ride welcomed motorcycle enthusiasts to ride together through the Greater Watertown area in support of the Alzheimer’s Association. Charlebois runs the ride in memory of her father, Prosper, who died from Alzheimer’s disease.

Memory Walk kickoff parties will take place June and July in the Greater Syracuse, Mohawk Valley and St. Lawrence County areas.

See our photo gallery below for more scenes of the event!

Jeff-Lewis Kickoff Party

A group of volunteers got their hands dirty this past weekend by assisting the chapter in its spring cleanup projects. Our volunteer teams cleared ivy, cleaned gutters, painted and helped with cleaning up our offices. This is the second consecutive year of our summer cleanup day. Volunteers were treated with pizza for lunch and the knowledge that they gave back to the chapter. Check our photo gallery for more!

Cleanup Day 2009

A few weeks back, we told you about longtime volunteer Ed Smith winning the United Way’s Exceptional Community Volunteer Award. Ed, who’s involvement with the chapter spans 21 years, was unable to be at the awards ceremony. In true “Ed Smith form,”  he and his wife were in North Carolina assisting his stepdaughter open the doors of an Alzheimer’s adult day program she is managing.

Last evening, the Chapter honored Ed, pictured at right, with a reception at its office on West Kirkpatrick Street. Ed was joined by family and friends, as well as his former colleagues from the Chapter’s board of directors (Ed retired from the board in the spring). Past staff and three generations of Chapter executives were in attendance — current CEO Cathy James and past executive directors Mary Anne Corasaniti, Peggy Williams.

Click here to view the entire post, including photos of the event.

The paint is drying on the walls here at the Chapter office in Syracuse. The Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York Chapter welcomed volunteers from Key Bank to its offices on May 5, as part of the corporation’s Neighbors Make The Difference program. Our friends from Key painted two bathrooms at the Kirkpatrick Day Program, an office on our operations side and the entryway to our Chapter Office.

Tuesday, May 5, 2009 marked the 19th anniversary of Key Bank’s Neighbors Make The Difference program. More photos appear inside.

Longtime Chapter volunteer Edward Smith was a recipient of a 2009 United Way Exceptional Community Volunteer award on Tuesday. The awards, presented by the United Way of Central New York, recognize volunteers who have made significant contributions to their respective organization. Ed was one of two volunteers to earn the award.

Ed, who recently retired from the Chapter’s Board of Directors, has been involved in almost every facet of the organization during his 21 years of service. He has worked at Carrier Dome concession stands, served on event committees, analyzed financial documents and, as the former chair of the building committee, studied every square foot of our Chapter office in Syracuse.

Read the Syracuse.com article about the award presentation.

This week is National Volunteer Week. As a voluntary health association, we are reliant on the time and talent brought to us selflessly by our volunteers. Volunteering for the chapter takes so many roles — board member, Memory Walk committee member, greeter at the Kirkpatrick Day Program or a helping hand in one of our offices. Volunteers are the heart and soul of our organization and this week we say, “Thank you!”

Jeanne Fennessey, a licensed practical nurse and caseworker at Keepsake Village at Greenpoint, won the Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York Chapter’s Cynthia Stevenson Professional Excellence in Caregiving Award for her work at the facility. She was nominated by three different families with whom she works at the facility. Each cited her work to maintain the dignity and sensitivity of their loved one, while making their loved one feel as if they were the only one under her care.

“Jeanne has the ability to make the residents feel special,” Cecilia Kurpita of Baldwinsville wrote in her nomination. “She is like an angel in the ways she looks out for all those in her care. She has gone out of her way to find out the things that make my dad feel happy and comfortable at Keepsake (Village).” Alan Rainbow of Liverpool wrote: “She is so approachable, and you get an honest sense of caring and commitment.”

More information inside…

Ronald Jerauld of Berkshire was named the Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York Chapter Excellence in Family Caregiving Award winner. Jerauld was presented with the award at a meeting of the support group which he attends in Owego.

Ronald Jerauld was nominated by his daughter Rhonna. Ronald has been the primary caregiver for his wife Joan for more than seven years. To fulfill the criteria for the award, the caregiver must show that they are paying attention to their own health and needs. Ronald’s daughter described her father’s renewed love of canoeing and how he is able to take trips with a local canoe club with assistance from her and a local respite provider.

In describing her father’s approach to care, Rhonna wrote: “The manner in which he treats my mom after 7+ years diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease differs little from how he did for the 50 years before that. His love and respect for her as a whole person has driven him to fight tirelessly for any medical attention, patient’s rights, or comforts of living that should be entitled to anyone.”

More information inside…

Staff from the Alzheimer’s Association surprised siblings Michaela, Shauna and Landon Rice with its Outstanding Youth Volunteer awards during a special school assembly on Thursday. The trio was honored for the devoted care of their great-grandfather, who has dementia. The Rice children were nominated by Croghan resident Leah Schneider, a family friend who cited their weekly visits to the nursing home where their great-grandfather lives. The Rice children use their visits to spend time with other residents on their great-grandfather’s floor.

Schneider wrote: “Michaela, Shauna and Landon are taken to visit their great-grandfather each week. Not only do they visit their great-grandfather, but all the other patients on the floor, who adore their bright faces and smiles. The children feel very comfortable and outgoing with their great-grandfather, as well as everyone else, while sitting in their laps and giving hugs.”

News 10 Now covered the presentation and posted the video on their website.

The Alzheimer’s Association, Central New York Chapter presents an annual series of caregiving awards to family and professional caregivers, as well as children who volunteer their time caring for people with a dementing illness. More awards will be presented next week. Stay tuned for more!

Pictured with their awards, from left to right, are Landon, Michaela and Shauna Rice.

If you drove around the Greater Syracuse area on Wednesday, March 25, you may have seen people holding signs with Alzheimer’s facts.

Our volunteers took to the streets to raise awareness about the disease and follow up on Tuesday’s Facts and Figures launch. Signs saying “Every 70 Seconds Someone Gets Alzheimer’s” and “There are 5.3 Million Americans with Alzheimer’s” faced drivers during morning, lunch and evening rush hours on Syracuse’s busiest roadways — Lyndon Corners in Dewitt, Heid’s Corners in Liverpool, Clinton Square in Syracuse, West Genesee Street in Westvale and the corner of West Fayette and West Streets near Armory Square. Our teams report that car horns were honked and that a few people stopped in traffic to ask questions.

More pictures of the standouts can be seen by clicking the headline above.