Purple Power!

On Friday, June 21^st we had activities all day long that featured the color purple to help raise awareness about Alzheimer’s Disease and to support those who care for people with this disease.

The Alzheimer’s Association chooses this day, as it is the longest day of the year.  It has several meanings, such as to signify that the day of a caregiver never ends, or to shed the most light on this disease to hopefully lead to a cure.  An estimated 5.8 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s Disease, with an additional 16 million unpaid caregivers in the U.S.  It is the 6^th leading cause of death in the U.S.   At Juniper Village at Lebanon, from 9 AM until 4 PM, there was a Silent Auction featuring all items that were purple, which raised $78.00!  We had a Quarter Raffle all afternoon, which also featured purple items such as mugs filled with candy, purple puzzles, and a wide array of purple jewelry.  This netted $100.00, for a grand total of $178.00  We also played Purple Balloon Volleyball, Purple Prize Bingo, Purple Outburst, and we even drank grape juice, ate purple ice cream and purple corn chips!   By the end of the day, we were all seeing purple!  Staff and residents were dressed in their finest purple attire, and the room was decorated in purple balloons and streamers.  Everyone had a wonderful time at our first “Purple Day”, which is sure to become an annual event!  Many thanks to all of our wonderful staff and volunteers who made it happen!