In 2015, Amy Huggins was inspired by a piece on the PBS Newshour about Music Mends Minds. That April, she flew to Los Angeles with her husband, Alan, a patient with Alzheimer’s disease, to experience the 5th Dementia in rehearsal. Huggins was so touched by the music, the players and singers, and the mood-boosting effect on caregivers, that she returned and asked her Vashon Island Rotary Club to make Music Mends Minds a Community Service Project. This year, they will celebrate five years of offering and supporting this vital weekly program!

Huggins also inspired other Rotarians to take this action in order to create lasting change in their communities. These include Mercer Island Rotary Cub at two locations, Puyallup Rotary Club, Olympia Rotary Club, Des Moines/Normandy Park Rotary Club, and two more (Maple Valley and Kirkland) beginning this year. She connected Music Mends Minds into the Alzheimer’s/Dementia Rotary Action Group and won approval in 2019 for it to be a District 5030 Project.

In 2020, Rotary International’s Vision is, “Together, we see a world where people unite and take action to create lasting change; across the globe, in our communities, and in ourselves.”