A Pat On The Back

The first year of Beads For Memories has come to  a close. It has been a more interesting, and much more uplifting year than any of us here had imagined. After reaching her goal of $1000 raised in a year, Alysha felt it was time to celebrate. So what goes better with celebration than cake?

White Oaks, February 2012

It has been a very busy February for the second year in a row at Alysha's house. She spent the entire month making bracelets at home, and selling them at school. Many thanks to the staff and students at White Oaks who supported by purchasing bracelets and raffle tickets. Thanks too, to the family members and businesses who have supported Beads for Memories over the past year.

After all the donations were totalled up, White Oaks donated a total of:

$315.37

To the Alzheimer Society of London Middlesex. Because the donation exceeded $250 for the month, there will be a plaque added to one of the chairs in the conference room at the Society's headquarters. The message will let whoever uses the chair know that "White Oaks P.S. Cares".

We look forward to bringing you more news as Beads for Memories continues to raise funds for those suffering from Alzheimer's.

A Grand Evening

February 4th, 2012 was the night for the London Middlesex Alzheimer Society's annual Cabin Fever Reliever event. The 'Reliever' is a dinner and auction, and was held at the Best Western Lamplighter Inn. Alysha was invited to bring her bracelets to the event, and sell them throughout the evening.

Alysha and mom, Julie at the sales table.

The bracelets included a selection with semi-precious stones added in, made just for this event. Alysha was lucky enough to be given a prime location at the registration table for the pre-dinner portion of the evening. It was wonderful to have so many new, and familiar faces around for the evening.

Ready for sale!

Alysha entered the evening very close to a major goal. Since her first visit to the Society in March of 2011, close to $900 had been raised through bracelet sales. She had set a goal of $1000 dollars raised in less that one calendar year. Prior to the auction, it was announced that Alysha had less than eighty dollars to go before reaching her target.

We are very pleased to announce that, by the end of the Cabin Fever Reliever, Beads For Memories had surpassed the $1000 mark for the year! The big round of applause from all those at the Cabin Fever Reliever was a huge moment for Alysha, and her mother. The Cabin Fever Reliever crowd donated a total of $230 in this one night alone! Alysha and her family would like to thank everyone who contributed their time to making bracelets, materials to create them, and all those who purchased a bracelet (or a whole bunch) from one of the events Alysha was at over the past year. This evening was a wonderful exclamation point on an incredible year.

Alysha's name will be added to the Major Donors wall for 2011 at the Alzheimer Society offices in June, and she will be the youngest individual ever named on the wall. Alysha couldn't be more thrilled.

Below are a couple of friends who dropped by to pose with Alysha at the event.

Alysha, and Kerry Bruce from the Society

'Aunt' Joan McConnell and Alysha

This is certainly not the end of the road for Beads For Memories, or Alysha and family. We continue to be involved with Alzheimer's fund raising, including the month of February at White Oaks school. As always, if you'd like more information on the project you can contact awlovespets@rogers.com. if you would like to read about Alysha's inspiration for the work that she does, you can read my first post.

Bracelets: Revealed

I was speaking to someone today about Alysha's efforts and her website, and I was asked a very practical question: What do these bracelets look like? Seemed like a fair question, but I didn't have one on me to show the person in question. So, for those who haven't been to an event, here are the kinds of bracelets we've made for the fundraiser.
 

They are all 6 inches long, and made of either glass, plastic, or wooden beads. The quarters are there for size comparison. Unless someone has specifically requested it, there are no two exactly alike. Beads from several different sources at different times keep the variety coming. We also have 5 semi-regular beaders (bracelet makers?) in the family, who each have their own style. It is quite surprising how many combinations you can come up with without really thinking about it.

The bracelets are all made on embroidery floss, and tie on. Like a friendship bracelet, they are designed to be worn until they fray off on their own. This helps keep our costs and 'manufacturing' time down (and our customers coming back), so we can make the hundreds and hundreds required to keep the project going.

If you are interested in being involved by making a purchase or donating materials, please leave a comment or contact awlovespets@rogers.com for information. More information about Alzheimer's and dementia can be found at alzheimerlondon.ca.

Thanks for your interest.

White Oaks Fundraiser

After a whole year of fundraising with the Alzheimer's Society around London, Alysha has brought her bracelets back home to White Oaks School.

Starting February 1st, the staff have given permission for her to set up shop in front of the Junior Office.

Bracelets are selling for fifty cents each, and there are plans for raffles of other handmade jewellery in the next three weeks. If the total from the White Oaks students exceeds $250.00, there will be a chair plaque in the Alzheimer's Society's conference room with the message "White Oaks Public School Cares". 

The Vice-Principal was kind enough to pose with Alysha as the very busy month begins.

Alysha and Mrs. S Sartor of White Oaks P.S.

If you want to know the reasons behind Alysha's efforts you can read about it here. If you would like to contact us about ordering bracelets, or helping out in another way, please e-mail us at awlovespets@rogers.com

A Meaningful Message

The Alzheimer Society's headquarters in London has a conference room for meetings and presentations. Our family first toured the facility in March of 2011, and we were guided around by Jackie Ellefsen when Alysha brought her initial donation.

Alysha and Jackie

It was during this visit that Jackie mentioned the plaques that adorn several of the chairs in the room. Alysha discovered that a donation of $250 or more would allow her to place a plaque with a message of her choice on one of the chairs. The idea of having a permanent message really motivated our (then) eight year old daughter, and when we discussed it, she was enthusiastic about making her next goal a two hundred and fifty dollar donation to the Society.

There were no more sales to be had from her schoolmates, so we began to think of other places that might be interested in Alysha's bracelets. Jewellery Werx in Lambeth was kind enough to allow her to take advantage of a discount on their beads, and to have a box on the counter for sales of the bracelets. The Alzheimer Society invited her to their volunteer dinner and their Walk For Memories and encouraged her to sell them there. She set up shop in our front yard on summer weekends and got up early to set up a table at a neighbour's garage sale.


Bracelets we selling for either fifty cents or a dollar now, depending on what kinds of beads were on them, but it still took over three hundred individually hand made bracelets to get close to $250. Again, this was a family affair, as beading needles, and boxes and jars of beads took over the living room.

But before the end of September, Alysha was able to take a second donation down to help those at the Alzheimer's Society, as they helped those with this disease. Alysha took some time to decide what message she would leave as a permanent reminder to anyone who used 'her' chair in the conference room.

If you would like to get involved in Beads for Memories, either by placing an order, or donating supplies, please e-mail Alysha at awlovepets@rogers.com.

If you want to read the inspiration behind all of this activity, it's in this post here.

Alzheimer's, Beads, and Alysha

This website is the result of almost a year of work from Alysha Wisniewski and her family. I am Alysha's father, and I am going to begin by telling her story in my words. Let me assure you that, though my ability to tell the story this way is mine, the story itself, and the inspiration for it, are Alysha's alone.

The first thing that you need to know, is that Alysha and Aunt Roz were very great friends. From the very first day they met, Roz simply gushed about how wonderful and beautiful Alysha was, and hung on every word she said. She would tell Alysha's parents and grandparents what a wonderful child she was, and how great it was to have her around.

Alysha was equally in love with Roz. Their meetings would be highly anticipated, Alysha asking at every holiday and family gathering if Roz would be there. They always sat beside one another at dinner, and cuddled up together while the family talked. Every chance they got, they were and inseparable pair. 


As time went on, Alysha grew up. From five years old, to six, and seven, she and Aunt Roz never wavered in their love for one another. As she grew older, the rest of our family had to explain the sad truth about Roz to Alysha. Her favourite aunt was sick. In fact, Roz had been sick for some time, most of the time that Alysha had known her. Crazy, flamboyant Roz was very slowly slipping away. Alzheimer's disease was taking away Roz's ability to function like a regular person, bit by little bit.

Its a difficult thing to explain to an adult what having Alzheimer's means. It is not an illness that shows its wounds in a way that grown people can cope with. This is doubly so for a child. When Alysha began to learn that Aunt Roz wouldn't remember things the same way anymore, she didn't shy away. Now, if Roz needed help finding her way to and from the bathroom,  Alysha was her escort. If Roz asked the same question three times in ten minutes, Alysha answered with a smile. If Roz let the wrong word slip out of her mouth, her first apology was to Alysha. Both of them were trying to make the best of a bad situation, and neither had the language to explain themselves, only hug and smiles.

Alysha and Roz's Story continues after the break....