Purple Cities - 2019

Purple Cities Alliance, Knoxville TN celebrated it's Fifth Purple CIties Day on May 11, 2019 with a celebration in Fountain City Park.  Despite the wet weather, we had a great turnout and enjoyed an afternoon of music and celebration.
We were proud to announce LInda Smith as our first Purple Cities Person of the Year.  Linda's heart and soul have always been in caring for our elders and most especially those with Alzheimer's and other dementia related disorders.  She served on committees for Alzheimer's TN including the planning committees for the annual Walk and Caring Hearts Awards.  Linda was always there to lend a hand wherever it was needed.  She never met a stranger, her warm smile and infectious laugh put everyone she met at ease.  We lost our friend Linda on October 13, 2019, she is sadly missed.
On May 11, 2019 we also awarded Grants to SCHAS, CAC/Office on Aging and Cades.  The grants are to be used to enhance programs for our neighbors with dementia.
Our Rock Against Dementia Concert was a huge success, with the largest crowd we have ever had.  We look forward to another exciting Rock on March 28 when we return to Schulz Brau Brewing Company.  
When we began our journey toward making Knoxville a dementia friendly community, our main focus was on training groups of people.  Over the last 5 years we have held many trainings for church groups, city employees, civic organizations etc.but we now realize that we don't need a large group, or a set training schedule.  Our members are out in the community every day, teaching everyone they meet how to approach and assist someone who may be confused in public.  We can teach our servers in every restaurant where we have a meal, every cashier in every store we shop in.  We can teach our children, our neighbors, everyone we meet.  It doesn't take much time or effort to just pass on our information.  
We still want to do the big meetings but we need to be sure we don't pass on any opportunity to enlighten even one person a day.
In the new year ahead, let's make that our goal.  To teach one person a day and we will truly be a dementia inclusive community.  Happy New Year!

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