Our Mission
The mission of Dementia Caregivers & Friends is to educate, support and encourage dementia family caregivers. Because family caregivers need the support and encouragement of friends who will stand alongside them as they care for loved ones with dementia, our mission extends beyond caregivers to include friends of dementia caregivers, thus, “& Friends.” When we all learn and share and support one another in caring for people living with dementia, it becomes a journey for all of us. In that way, Dementia Caregivers & Friends reflects the way of life in the mountains – it’s all of us, together, supporting and helping each other.
Read more about Dementia Caregivers & Friends
For more information and to get involved, please contact project leader April Henkel at dementiascaregiverswnc@gmail.com.
Our History
Dementia Caregivers & Friends began in Yancey County NC in 2022 with a workshop for caregivers. Higgins Memorial United Methodist Church in Burnsville, together with the High Country Area Agency on Aging, offered a free two-hour dementia caregivers workshop attended by almost 40 people. Seeing the great response and receiving many caregiver requests for a support group, local volunteers applied for and received funding from The Yancey Fund (Community Foundation of Western North Carolina) to create a Resource Center for Dementia Caregivers. In 2023, the second annual dementia caregivers workshop was held with almost 80 in attendance and a monthly support group was also established.
The first grant ($8,300) was awarded by The Yancey Fund to the High Country Area Agency on Aging and a second year support will carry the program into 2025.