AWARE’s Fall Membership Meeting featured Dr. Kamilla Smith

Dedicated to Fighting Alzheimer’s Since 1989

(Featured photo: Karisti Julia, President, AWARE; Dr. Kamilla Smith, featured speaker.)*

AWARE’s Fall Membership Meeting and Luncheon was held at Arlington Hall at Turtle Creek Park. Sponsored by Belmont Senior Living, the event brought the membership up to date on the happenings with the nonprofit. Everyone caught up with friends and exchanged news about happenings and events over the past few months.    

Karisti Julia, president of AWARE, took the podium and welcomed the crowd saying, “AWARE has remained true to its mission since its founding.  AWARE remains dedicated to fighting Alzheimer’s disease by providing funding and support to programs, projects, and research provided by nonprofit organizations that actively help individuals affected by Alzheimer’s in Dallas and the greater North Texas area.  Founder, Evelyn Ponder, and first-elected president, Cyndy Hudgins, led a small group of passionate and civic-minded Dallas women to create AWARE in 1989.  Since that time AWARE has raised and donated nearly $14 million in support of its mission. Today, men and women of all ages have joined our fight.”        

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Dr. Kamilla Smith, Founder and Director of Charleston House Gynecology, was the featured speaker. Her presentation was informative and far-reaching discussing menopause, hormone replacement therapy, diet and nutrition, brain health and more.       

Membership in AWARE is open to both men and women and includes benefits such as:

 · Network – Members participate in a network of individuals, many of whom have a personal experience with Alzheimer’s disease through a family member, friend, medical or other professionals in the field.

· Education – Members learn the latest information about the causes, treatment, and research on Alzheimer’s disease through meetings, field trips, and speakers.

· Resources – Members work collaboratively sharing information and best practices in the compassionate care of loved ones with Alzheimer’s.

· Donations – Members know that grant recipients of the AWARE fund have been professionally vetted by The Dallas Foundation to ensure that money invested in our local community is leveraged for the best possible results in the fight to end Alzheimer’s disease.
       

AWARE is a component fund of The Dallas Foundation, a 501(c)3 publicly supported charity.  In partnership with the Foundation AWARE conducts an annual grant review process by which grant applicants are carefully and thoughtfully vetted to ensure that grant dollars are awarded to organizations that provide outstanding services to Alzheimer’s patients and their caregivers, and to those research institutions that are at the forefront of medical research in the treatment, prevention, and cure of Alzheimer’s disease.    

Grant recipients for 2021-2022 are: Baylor Scott & White Dallas Foundation, Casa de Vida, Center for Brain Health at UT Dallas, Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society, Dallas Museum of Art, EDUCARE, For Love and Art, Jewish Family Service, Juliette Fowler Communities, Plano Symphony Orchestra, Stomping Ground Comedy, The Senior Source, Texas Health Resources, Texas Winds Musical Outreach, The Meadows Museum at Southern Methodist University, The University of Texas Foundation for the Callier Center, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Visiting Nurses Association of Texas, Wilshire Baptist Church and the Myrna D. Schlegel AWARE Scholarship Fund.

Together with compassion and dedication we can make a difference. Join AWARE now and join the fight www.AWAREDallas.org   Instagram: @awaredallas. Facebook: @awaredallas

*Photos by Rob Wythe/Wythe Portrait Studio

(Sharon Adams, Adams Communications Public Relations, is honored to represent AWARE and publish this Charity Lifestyles Scene post.)