Alzheimer's and Support to Your Community

“If you want to touch the past, touch a rock.  If you want to touch the present, touch a flower. 
If you want to touch the future, touch a life.”
Author Unknown

by Skip Cohen

​I've written a lot over the years about giving back to your community. You're looking for your community to be good to you, so you've got to be good to them! But there's also a necessary balance: supporting nonprofits and, at the same time, finding a cause that's near and dear to your heart. 

My mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother all died of Alzheimer's. When Sheila and I moved to Florida in 2011, it was to help my Dad with my Mom, who had been diagnosed with the disease. An estimated 7.2 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease as of 2025. This represents about 11% of the population aged 65 and older. The number is expected to increase to 13.8 million by 2060. From the Alzheimer's Association.

Supporting the fight for a cure for Alzheimer's has become my most focused way to give back. Next week, the Florida Alzheimer's group will be publishing my sixth installment of the You're Not Alone Chronicles. In addition, I'm helping to manage the Memory Care Alliance, and I'll be one of several speakers next month addressing the county legislature reviewing health care. 

I'm not sharing what I'm doing to suggest I've found the most noble cause to support, only to remind you that there are so many levels of involvement for each of you to choose from. Whatever the cause most tugging at your heartstrings, it's so important to find ways to give back. While financial donations are always supportive, every nonprofit thrives on the energy people bring to their activities.

Here's my point: there's a greater need for support for your community than ever before. None of us knows what to expect in the future, especially when it comes to health care. And the chaos in the government only makes it more important for each of us to be more involved with local needs.

“It’s easy to make a buck.  It’s a lot tougher to make a difference. ” 
Tom Brokaw

PS The illustration with today's post is one of my favorites from Adobe Stock. Typing in "Alzheimer's" into the search box, I was surprised at all the interpretations by hundreds of different artists.