One Way to Comfort Alzheimer’s Patients: Knit for Alice’s Embrace Partners

Knitting shawls and blankets can offer tremendous comfort to patients with Alzheimer’s

If I can be honest with you for a moment, developing Alzheimer’s is one of my greatest fears.

My grandfather suffered from it. He was my last living grandparent, and he passed on the very day I graduated from high school.

That sounds so tragic, doesn’t it?

Yet I was far more heartbroken the day I went with some of my family to visit my grandfather in a nursing home. I saw no light of recognition in his eyes. It was obvious that he had no idea who any of us were.

The idea that I could one day lose all ability to recognize my loved ones has haunted me to this day.

Comfort for a Terrible Affliction

You might wonder how an individual with Alzheimer’s could benefit from a shawl or blanket. Read the article once posted on Maria Shriver’s blog and written by Alice’s Embrace’s founder, Diane Lewis, and you’ll understand.

(If you see a pop-up box with no way to close it, clear the top Archive.org box by clicking the X in the top right corner, and you should be able to close the pop-up.)

TLDR? In a nutshell, shawls and blankets bring great comfort to individuals with Alzheimer’s.

Diane wrote the following to me in an email:

The joy we have seen firsthand when we make the deliveries is quite magical.  Sometimes the recipient becomes emotional the moment we place the item over their shoulders or on their laps.  They often cannot believe it is a free gift.

Those who are not as far along in the disease really love to hear the stories behind the different names and they’re also the ones who love to hear that people from all over the country create these gifts and send them to us to give to them.  The recipients who are a bit further along in the disease maybe not verbally tell us that they love their gift, but we can tell by the way they touch it or smile when it’s placed over them.

The comfort these lap blankets and prayer shawls are providing to these dear folks is so much more than I could have ever imagined when I first started Alice’s Embrace.  Mom’s gave her warmth, comfort and helped ease anxiety and I’m seeing that this is the case for our recipients, too.”

Transitioning from Alice’s Embrace to Alice’s Embrace Partners

In 2024, Diane Lewis made the difficult decision to no longer accept the lap blankets and shawls that were the backbone of Alice’s Embrace, due to her desire to care for several close family members who needed her assistance.

Fortunately, this was not the end of Alice’s Embrace. Mid-2024, many people reached out to Diane to let her know that they would like to help continue her important work. They wanted to distribute shawls and lap blankets to people in their own neighborhoods.

Thus, Alice’s Embrace Partners was born!

As of this writing, 8 different US states have coordinators who accept shawls and lap blankets and work to take them to memory care and/or hospice communities. Many more states have volunteer knitters and crocheters who continue to create these beautiful items of comfort, and several states have volunteers who help with deliveries along with adding labels.

You can learn more about Alice’s Embrace Partners and download a list of these special people on this page.

If You Want to Be a Part of Alice’s Embrace Partners…

…there are many possibilities!

First, of course, you can create shawls and/or lap blankets and be a Contributor. Be sure to follow the guidelines, which are listed on this page. You’ll also want to be sure you use one of the Patterns listed. These are tried-and-tested patterns used for over a decade, and using them ensures that no one has hurt feelings because of receiving a “different” shawl or lap blanket.

Would you like to do even more?

If you know of a memory care facility or hospice organization in your area, why not ask if they would like to receive blankets and shawls for the folks in their care? You could then be a Coordinator and help spread the love even more.

(You can be both contributor and coordinator; Alice’s Embrace Partners encourages folks who wish to contribute to seek others to join together in the endeavor!)

If the idea of becoming a coordinator interests you, I encourage you to read Diane’s Letter for more information, as well as the email address where you can reach Diane so that she can add you to the list of Alice’s Embrace Partners.

You can also volunteer to be a Volunteer (that’s not the silliest sentence I’ve ever written or anything… 😆). The job of a volunteer is to help with deliveries and/or sew labels onto handmade donations.

If you’d like to participate in Alice’s Embrace Partners in any capacity, you may also wish to join their Facebook group.

It’s sad and unfortunate that Alzheimer’s patients tend to be forgotten and ignored by society. But by joining this cause, you can do your part to offer them comfort and love through your charity knitting.