illi News - Lorenzo's House Awarded ,000 by Maude's Ventures to Create Alzheimer's Care Support Network

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Innovative "Lorenzo's Angels" program will address the endemic crisis faced by isolated and overwhelmed care partners

CHICAGO - illiNews -- A new nonprofit Lorenzo's House has been awarded $50,000 in funding from Maude's Ventures to jumpstart an innovative "Lorenzo's Angels" program. Lorenzo's Angels will connect care partners to care partners of loved ones with younger-onset Alzheimer's creating a free peer network that will build community and offer understanding. The new program will address the endemic crisis faced by isolated and overwhelmed care partners by pairing them with a more experienced "Angel," peer of a similar profile who will provide emotional support, respite care resources, insights and opportunities.

"Lorenzo's Angels" is a critical pillar of Lorenzo's House, and its innovative and ambitious concept drew immediate support from Maude's Ventures, an extension of the Richard and Maude Ferry Foundation, a Seattle-based organization. Their philanthropic effort structures nonprofit investments as grants, seeking to provide seed funding for projects that tackle one of their three annual design challenges that are developed in concert with people who have personal experience with dementia. This year, those design challenges included a request for projects that design adaptive clothing for people who have dementia-related mobility issues, develop tools or resources for people with aphasia to communicate and accomplish daily tasks, or create a model or resource for respite care that care partners of all income levels can afford.

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Lorenzo's House pitched its "Lorenzo's Angels" idea to Maude's Ventures under its third design challenge. Jonny Imerman, a cancer survivor who founded "Imerman Angels" in Chicago to give this similar network of support to cancer patients, is on the board of Lorenzo's House and will be a key advisor with the program. The funding will be directed towards creating critical infrastructure for the digital and in-person network, developing a rigorous "right match" process for care partners, and designing a staffing structure that ensures a strong foundation for growth and opportunity for care partners of all backgrounds and income levels.

"Care partners of loved ones with younger-onset Alzheimer's are thrown into a turbulent world," states Lorenzo's House founder, Diana Shulla-Cose. "While we want to stay independent, we are overwhelmed, and quickly learn that sustaining self, and somehow remaining whole on the other end of this journey requires meaningful connection - - and our Lorenzo's Angels program provides this." Shulla-Cose founded Lorenzo's House after her husband Lorenzo was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer's in 2017 at the age of 62, when their sons were just 10 and 14 years old. "Our new partnership with Maude's Ventures brings so much hope - positioning Lorenzo's House to lighten the load for care partners everywhere."

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"Maude's Ventures provides seed funding for innovative dementia care ideas that are bold, compassionate, and speak to the many complexities of dementia and Alzheimer's," says Quentin Orem, the Executive Director of Maude's Ventures. "The angel's initiative at Lorenzo's House deeply spoke to many of us who have felt the suffering and isolation of being a care partner. "We're confident that Lorenzo's House will create a much needed alliance in 'Lorenzo's Angels', providing connections and resources to care partners everywhere."

Work on the program will begin immediately. For care partners of loved ones with younger-onset Alzheimer's, Lorenzo's Angels can't come fast enough - and thanks to Maude's Ventures, help will be on the way shortly.

Website: LorenzosHouse.org (https://www.lorenzoshouse.org/)
Twitter: @lorenzos_house
Facebook: @lorenzoshouseofficial
Instagram: @lorenzos_house
ABC7 Chicago: Lorenzo's House supports families whose loved ones have Alzheimer's (https://abc7chicago.com/alzheimers-disease-stages-dementia-lorenzos-house/10885540/)