Shortbreads Help Kiwis With Dementia

Are you a lover of shortbread biscuits? Well, it’s quite possible your love of the tasty treat is going towards a very worthwhile cause - supporting Kiwis diagnosed with dementia.

AFM Group, an Australasian fast moving consumer goods company based in Auckland, is donating $36,000 to Alzheimers NZ to help provide frontline services to people affected by dementia.

The company donates .20 cents from each packet of its shortbread biscuits sold through participating Countdown outlets.

To raise the funds AFM Group has sold more than 180,000 packets of the biscuits – over 2.1 million individual shortbreads.

AFM Group general manager Mike Fisher said dementia is a really sad condition that is close to his heart.

“I hope the money helps to make life just that little bit easier for people affected by dementia.”

Alzheimers chief executive Catherine Hall said people living with dementia live at home for most of their time with the condition and they are desperately short of appropriate support services in their communities.

“Anything we can do to help real people in real need makes a huge difference.

“And 36,000 is a substantial sum in anyone’s language – you can be very sure we will put it to good use!”

Ms Hall said Alzheimers NZ is lobbying the government very hard to implement New Zealand’s first-ever Dementia Action Plan that, when implemented, will see the roll-out of much-needed support services for the rapidly growing number of New Zealanders with dementia.

Numbers are expected to triple in coming years, likely affecting every New Zealand family at some point.

“We desperately need that plan,” she said, “but in the meantime we are very grateful for AFM Group’s extremely generous donation.”

AFM Group has donated $70,000 to Alzheimers NZ over the last five years.

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