Victoria Boustani was only one year old when her grandmother, Reine Betito, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Now a teen, the effect of the devastating news on her family has inspired the West Hartford teen to take action. And so she did on Sunday, May 15 when, as part of her bat mitzvah project, she organized a “Memory Walk” to both honor her grandmother and raise awareness and money to benefit the Jewish Family Services of Greater Hartford (JFS) programs designed to help people in the early stages of Alzheimers.  “I wanted to do something significant for me and my family,” explains Boustani, so, in lieu of bat mitzvah gifts, she asked friends and family to support the JFS early memory loss program. A seventh grader at Solomon Schechter Day School in West Hartford, she raised close to $2,000 for the program through a school lollipop sale, as well as donations from those who participated in the walk. Calling Victoria’s Memory walk “a great success,” JFS Director of Development Kim Margolis said, “We are thrilled to engage the younger generation in tikkun olam.

CAP: In appreciation of her efforts to help raise awareness and funds to benefit JFS early memory loss programs, JFS President Merrill Mandell (left) and JFS Executive Director Anne Danaher (right) presented Victoria Boustani with the agency’s Certificate of Recognition.