Story By Chris Nakea
Vice Chair & Public Image Officer,
Alzheimer’s/Dementia Rotary Action Group (ADRAG)
It began on a quiet afternoon in May 2011 on Martha’s Vineyard, an island
located just south of Cape Cod in the state of Massachusetts, USA.
Jeff and Jacqui Morby, invited by the local Rotary Club to speak at the District 7950
Conference (south-eastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands, and the State of
Rhode Island), delivered a passionate talk about the coming ‘silver tsunami’ – the wave of
Alzheimer’s and dementia cases expected to sweep across the world.
Jeff, co-founder of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund, described the immense human and societal
toll of the disease and the urgent need for global action. In the audience sat Past District
Governor Dave Clifton, who immediately saw a powerful connection between Rotary’s
mission of Service Above Self and the moral imperative to respond.
Within months, he began organising what would become the Alzheimer’s/Dementia Rotary
Action Group (ADRAG) and which was officially recognised by Rotary International later
that same year.
