When you shop for a holiday gift at The Alzheimer’s Foundation estore, all proceeds benefit The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. This is a perfect time to make our kids aware of helping others in need, as this month is National Alzheimer’s Month. And it’s the perfect time to be shopping for gifts, too.

The money that goes to the foundation goes toward research to find a cure, but, also – it goes toward providing quality care to those afflicted, which is so important. People with Alzheimer’s do need hands-on, often around-the-clock care, and ensuring that they receive good care is so important and can be so difficult. Funding that can help families get through this difficult time is sorely needed.

I think it is so important to teach our kids about the different things that can go ‘wrong’ in people’s lives. I want my kids to know that life is not all about looking the coolest and having the coolest clothes and hanging out with the coolest people. Teaching them about something as common as Alzheimer’s is a good way to do that. So many of us will have someone in our lives with Alzheimer’s, or will get it ourselves.

And a lot of teens already have someone in their lives with Alzheimer’s and AFA is taking steps to help these teens cope with a very difficult situation. They have their own website, called AFA Teens. There are message boards where they can connect with other teens going through the same thing and lots of information on the site to help them understand Alzheimer’s better. They even try to get local support groups set up for the kids.

Another way The AFA helps families through this trying time is to offer in their eStore, a four part training DVD, that will help people learn basic skills for caring for family members with the disease. So when you purchase these DVD’s you are not only helping yourself and your family member, but, you are also helping the AFA, which in turn – helps your family member. So that’s pretty cool.