Awards and Recognition
Move With Balance® with Music receives a grant from the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America
NEW YORK (April 25, 2016) — The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA), a non-profit organization founded to fill the gap that existed on a national level, assuring quality of care and excellence in service to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related illnesses and to their caregivers and families, awarded one of its Spring 2016 Bi-Annual Grants to Giving Back, an outstanding non-profit member organization in Paia, Hawaii, that shares AFA’s mission of providing optimal care to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related illnesses, and their families.
The $5,000 grant enables Giving Back to continue to develop and enhance educational and support services, and support families in need in their communities. The grants are a critical funding source for grassroots organizations, which play a pivotal role in their communities.
Giving Back’s mission is to prevent injuries from falls, and enhance cognitive functions among the elderly. The organization does this by employing fit elders as mentors to more frail elders, practicing exercises together in a safe, loving environment as part of their Move with Balance program. To find out more about the program, you can visit them at www.movewithbalance.org.
“AFA strongly believes in helping grassroots organizations in local communities in order to improve quality of life for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, and their families,” said Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., president and CEO of AFA. “The organizations that were selected for these grants have demonstrated to be a remarkable resource for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. The grant will allow Giving Back to develop a model for dementia and Alzheimer’s clients, and individualizing the program for the mentees. I congratulate Giving Back, and encourage them to keep up the great work.”
“We are thrilled to receive this funding from AFA. We plan to get our innovative Alzheimer/Dementia curricula and original music available on our website, and ready for national distribution,” said Karen Peterson, executive director of Giving Back.
“Besides each Alzheimer’s mentee having their own mentor, we include family caregiver(s) in our program by having them attend the classes with the mentees. We have found they DO the exercises between classes, and the results show. We are encouraging the whole family be involved, including children.”
Move With Balance® chosen as Premier Cares Award finalist
Move With Balance® chosen as Premier Cares Award finalist, receives $24,000 for its unique mentor program focusing on fall prevention and cognitive development of elders
PAIA, Hawaii (February 25, 2015) – Move With Balance has been honored by Premier, Inc. as a finalist for the 23rd annual Monroe E. Trout Premier Cares Award for preventing falls and fall-related injuries, and enhancing brain function and cognitive skills in a growing population of frail elders.
Based in Paia, Hawaii, Move With Balance received $24,000. The program began in 2005 as a regional project on the island and is founded on two unique and innovative elements. The first is a sequence of activities and movements that not only help elders regain muscular confidence, but also sharpen elders’ mental acuity. The second is the program delivery model based on volunteer mentors. In group settings, active seniors ages 55 and up work one-on-one with frail elders.
A panel of national healthcare leaders selects the Premier Cares Award winner and five finalists, all of which receive cash awards for use in further improving their programs. The Cares Award program spotlights these community-based healthcare initiatives and helps other organizations learn to replicate the unique programs by featuring information about them on the Cares Award website.
Tom’s of Maine awards Giving Back $10K
LOCAL NONPROFIT GIVING BACK AWARDED $10K TO HELP PROMOTE MOVE WITH BALANCE®,
THEIR HEALTHY AGING PROGRAM FOR ELDERS, AS PART OF THE ANNUAL “50 STATES FOR GOOD” COMMUNITY GIVING PROGRAM
Giving Back Mentoring represents Hawaii as one of 51 Winners to Share More than $500,000 from Tom’s of Maine
Paia, HI, December 17, 2014 – Giving Back has been selected as one of the 51 winners from each state and Washington DC in the sixth annual Tom’s of Maine “50 States for Good” community giving program. The organization will receive $10,000 to fund important community projects and services that will allow the creation of web-based training materials to be used for easy replication of Move With Balance® throughout the state of Hawaii and beyond.
The mission of Move With Balance® is to enhance the lives of all older adults by pairing active, fit elders with frail elders in loving intergenerational relationships. We meet this challenge by offering learning opportunities that include integrated movements, vision training, confidence and balance exercise skills in our goal of preventing injuries from falls and enhancing cognitive functions.
Non-profit community giving program winners from each state were selected from a pool of nearly 3,000 nominations by a passionate panel of influential judges representing a variety of unique perspectives on human, healthy and environmental goodness.
“So many important grassroots organizations bring goodness to communities every day,” said Susan Dewhirst, goodness programs manager at Tom’s of Maine. “For the first time we’re awarding more than $500,000 in project funding for a nonprofit in every state and the District of Columbia that will go directly towards helping people nationwide and the planet.”
MindAlert Award
The American Society on Aging, in collaboration with MetLife Foundation, selected Move With Balance® as the winner of the 2012 MindAlert Award in the category for programs designed to enhance mental fitness for the general population of older adult
“The Move With Balance® program was honored at the National Forum on Brain Health held on March 29, 2102, in Washington, DC, during the Aging The Review Committee found the Move with Balance® model to be innovative, unique, and easily replicable, and we are extremely pleased to have an intergenerational program named the recipient of this year’s award,” said Mind Alert Review Committee Member Ruth Heller, Program Director at the University of Oregon’s Osher Lifelong Learning Center in Eugene, Oregon. Review Committee members noted that this si a program that truly engages older adults, cognitively, physically and socially.”
Read more about the award and recognition about the program in this article published by the American Society of Aging.
Na Lima Kokua
Karen Peterson receives the Na Lima Kokua Business Award from the Hawaii Pacific Gerontological Society. Awarded to individuals who have helped to enhance the image of aging, or strived to make a unique contribution to the elderly.
Mutual of America Foundation
Merit Finalist, Mutual of America Foundation. 10 innovative programs are nominated for special recognition, and are encouraged to begin replication of their program. See the full recognition article here.
Selected Women of Maui County
Selected Women of Maui County (Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women). Karen Peterson, Program Director for Giving Back Mentoring, receives an award.