Handmade Quilts Support Important Alzheimer’s Research Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative helps fund significant discovery
LIVERMORE, CA, December 15, 2010--Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a promising tool in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, thanks in part to the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI). The AAQI awarded a $30,000 grant to the University of Michigan for research led by assistant professor Mi Hee Lim.
TheQuiltShow.com (TQS), hosted by nationally recognized quilt artists Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims, recently devoted an entire episode to the AAQI. TQS is the premier online television and lifestyle site for quilters worldwide. Anderson and Tims invited Ami Simms, AAQI founder and executive director, to share her story with the TQS community. Motivated by her mother’s 7-year struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, Simms created a nationwide effort to raise awareness and fund research.
“Quilting is coping for me,” said Simms during the hour-long show with Anderson and Tims. With support from quilters worldwide she has been able to curate two traveling quilt exhibits about Alzheimer’s, and has received more that 6,100 donated quilts which the AAQI auctions or sells online. Since 2006, the AAQI has raised almost $500,000.
Simms’ dedication has paid off. On December 3 results from the AAQI-funded research at the University of Michigan were published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/12/02/1006091107). “We found that our compound is capable of disassembling the misfolded amyloid clumps to form smaller amyloid pieces, which might be ‘cleansed’ from the brain more easily, demonstrating a therapeutic application of our compound,” Dr. Lim reported.
“I know there are some organizations who can give far more than we can and would consider a check for $30,000 a piddling amount. But I know how we earned it--one quilt at a time,” Simms said. With support of TheQuiltShow.com, word about the AAQI is spreading rapidly, which will result in additional funding for the research of Alzheimer’s disease. Although the connection of traditional quilting and modern medicine is an unlikely bridge, TQS and AAQI are proving that quilting can have a profound impact in the world.
Ashley Smith
Director of Marketing
TheQuiltShow.com
Phone: 303.668.0892
Email: ashley@thequiltshow.com
Ami Simms
Founder, Executive Director
Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative
Phone: 810.637.5586
Email: amisimms@aol.com
About TheQuiltShow.com
TheQuiltShow.com (http://www.thequiltshow.com) is the premiere online TV and lifestyle site for quilters. Featuring television-quality streaming video, social media connections, online classrooms, and more, founders Alex Anderson and Ricky Tims share inspiring and uplifting stories about quilters, teach new techniques, and aim to further progress the art of quilting.
About the Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative
The Alzheimer’s Art Quilt Initiative (http://www.alzquilts.org) is a national, grassroots charity whose mission is to raise awareness and fund research. The AAQI auctions and sells donated quilts, and sponsors nationally touring exhibits of quilts about Alzheimer’s.
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