Heart and Minds Foundation, a youth-led Weston nonprofit started in 2025, says it has given out 170-plus memory care boxes to people living with dementia.
A youth-led nonprofit based in Weston says it has handed out more than 170 memory care boxes to people living with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia since it started about a year ago.
Heart and Minds Foundation was founded in 2025 by Ananya Pathak, who was 16 when the group’s press kit was issued in August. She is its founder and CEO. The group works with memory care centers and senior living communities across Broward County, and its volunteers visit residents to run arts and crafts sessions and deliver the boxes.
“Our goal is to raise awareness about Alzheimer’s disease, support families and caregivers, and inspire more people in our community to get involved,” Pathak wrote to the Weston Journal.
What the boxes are
Each box contains “activities and items intended to encourage engagement and provide meaningful, accessible experiences for individuals affected by Alzheimer’s disease and dementia,” the foundation says in its press kit.
The group’s website lists how the boxes came together over a run of student “socials.” At the first, members made memory care kits that went to memory care centers. The second was a toiletry drive for the kits, where members also wrote hand-drawn notes to go inside. At the third, they worked with Cypress Bay High School’s crafts club to make crafts for the kits.
The fourth took the kits to Parkside Tamarac, “where we distributed the memory care kits and shared conversations with them,” the group says of the residents there.
2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Heart and Minds Foundation
Cookies, suncatchers and cards
The fifth event was at Artis Senior Living. “We loved working with Cypress Bay’s Baking Club to decorate cookies and share meaningful moments with such an incredible community,” the group says on its website.
Since then, members have made suncatchers for a local Alzheimer’s center, made cards with the Cypress Bay crafts club for an Alzheimer’s center, and decorated a new batch of memory care boxes to be filled “with goodies” and sent to an Alzheimer’s center, according to the site.
2 photos, swipe or scroll. Photos: supplied by Heart and Minds Foundation
An arts program in memory care
Alongside the boxes, the foundation runs an Arts Program that “brings creative activities directly to memory care communities,” it says.
“Heart and Minds Foundation volunteers visit memory care centers and engage residents through hands-on artistic activities designed to encourage creativity, participation, social connection, and self-expression,” the press kit says. “Activities have included arts and crafts projects and other interactive experiences tailored to memory care residents.”
The group says its mission is to help underserved communities “gain greater access to meaningful memory care resources while increasing awareness and understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.”
“We believe that individuals affected by memory loss deserve opportunities for connection, creativity, engagement, and dignity regardless of their circumstances,” it says.
Its website goes further, saying the group wants to raise awareness of “the hidden costs of Alzheimer’s care and the challenges faced by underserved families,” and that “everyone deserves access to early diagnosis, treatment, and support regardless of financial status.”
The numbers so far
In its first year or so, the foundation says it has:
- helped more than 120 people
- provided more than 170 memory care boxes
- involved more than 50 students and community members
- formed six or more community partnerships
- hosted 12 or more events
“What began as a youth-led initiative has grown into a community organization involving dozens of volunteers and partnerships with memory care and senior living communities throughout Broward County,” the press kit says.
How to get involved
The group says students and others who want to join can sign up through a form on its website, after which they are added to the members’ group chat. It posts details of upcoming socials on Instagram at @heartandmindfoundation, and can be reached by email at heartandmindsfoundation@gmail.com.
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