By MAUREEN DOHERTY
NORTH READING — In honor of Alzheimer’s Awareness Month in September, a small group of volunteers in town have launched a new initiative: North Reading Goes Purple!
To kick off the initiative, the Select Board voted to officially proclaim September as “Alzheimer’s Awareness Month” in town at their last meeting on September 3 and read the official proclamation into the record.
This initiative will include “North Reading Goes Purple” for the week beginning Sunday, September 21 at 5 p.m. According to one of the volunteers, Claudette Thompson, the public is invited to a kickoff ceremony to be held at the bandstand on the Town Common, which will be lit with purple lights. In addition, she said a “Promise Garden” will be planted with colored flowers “symbolizing participants’ connection to the disease.”
Volunteers are in the process of finalizing the schedule of events for North Reading Goes Purple week, which Thompson said will include both virtual and in-person programs as well as displays to provide the public with information about Alzheimer’s and the resources available to those affected by it as well as their caregivers. Displays will be set up at both the Edith O’Leary Senior Center and the Flint Memorial Library.
“We hope to place posters in as many locations as possible in the community, as well as Promise Garden flowers,” she added.
Although the event will start small, volunteers hope to build upon its success and make this an annual event in town going forward.
Those who wish to become at the grassroots level for this new initiative are invited to contact the Senior Center by either email (SeniorCenter@northreadingma.gov) or phone: 978-664-5600.
More details about the planned events and how the public can get more involved will follow in next week’s Transcript.
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