The JF&CS Memory Café Percolator shares information and tools to make it easier for organizations and individuals to start and sustain their own memory café.

Memory Café PSA
English
Memory Café PSA
Spanish
Memory Café PSA
Portuguese

You can view the full Massachusetts Memory Café Directory here.

History of the JF&CS Memory Café Percolator

In early 2014, JF&CS launched the second memory café in Massachusetts. Several organizations expressed interest in the café model, and guests of the JF&CS Memory Café asked for more locations and meeting dates. To respond, JF&CS launched the Percolator Memory Café Network in October 2014. Since then, the Percolator has helped other organizations across Massachusetts, as well as individuals and organizations in other states and countries, to learn how to start and sustain their own café. In 2017, the JF&CS Percolator Memory Café Network received a Rosalinde Gilbert Innovations in Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiving Legacy Award for its impact in helping to make memory cafés more widely available.

What Are Memory Cafés?

Memory cafés, also called Alzheimer’s cafés, are welcoming social gatherings for people living with dementia and their family members, friends, and professional caregivers. Dr. Bere Miesen started the first café in Holland in 1997, and since then they have spread as a social movement throughout many countries. Cafés meet in many types of locations, such as libraries, community centers, restaurants, and houses of worship. Cafés should fit the interests, needs, language, and culture of their local community, so each café is unique. Their main purpose is to provide a welcoming, stigma-free social setting where people living with dementia and their care partners can meet others and enjoy time together. Cafés aim to decrease the social isolation that often accompanies dementia.

Join the Percolator Email List

To join the JF&CS Memory Café Percolator email list and receive information about our quarterly meetings, please fill out this form. Note that our meetings take place in Waltham, MA and via Skype/conference call.

Memory Café Resource Links

Resources for Virtual or Hybrid Memory Cafés

Archive of Percolator Quarterly Idea Exchanges

Percolator meetings are held quarterly in Waltham, Massachusetts and by Zoom/conference call. We began recording the meetings in June 2019.