A Much-Anticipated Announcement!

To Our Friends, Supporters, and Community Partners, It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that the Old Friends Club has merged with Dementia Support Northwest! I know for many of you, the “Old Friends Club” probably means our new daytime caregiver respite programs, but in this case, it refers to the organization that gave Dementia Support Northwest the necessary toolkits, guidance, and direction necessary to bring our long-running desire for respite into the realm of possibility. Started in Carnation, Washington in 2015, the Old Friends Club (OFC) has worked over the last seven and a half years to help equip community organizations like our own to bring daytime respite programs to life within their own communities. While we at DSNW were originally approached by the OFC to help return respite care to Whatcom County, as we continued to work and plan together it quickly became apparent just how closely our missions in supporting those living with dementia were aligned. As a result, DSNW and the OFC have spent the last several months in a careful and deliberative process to make sure that as the OFC becomes a program of DSNW, it can continue to grow and flourish without impacting our ability to provide local, person-centered, and community-driven supports within northwestern Washington. Though our work in executing the Old Friends Club mission of community-based respite programs will bring DSNW’s guidance to a wide-ranging and geographically diverse audience, by maintaining financial accounts for DSNW’s traditional programs separate from our work on the OFC, we can ensure that, unless clearly specified otherwise, your donations will continue to go toward supporting the local programs and services that DSNW has provided for the last 40 years in this region. If you have additional questions, concerns, or comments about this process and what it means for Dementia Support Northwest, I encourage you to give us a call (360.671.3316) or send us an email (alz@alzsociety.org). From all of us here at Dementia Support Northwest (including the incoming Old Friends Club staff!), thank you for your ongoing and committed support of our work in bringing support to those living with dementia, as well as to those who provide their care. All the very best, Dan Gray Executive Director, DSNW