Kansas City company makes puzzles to help Alzheimer's patients

KANSAS CITY, Misssouri - If you're facing holiday gift shopping and want something a little more meaningful, there's soon to be something new in the puzzle aisle, and a local company's behind it.

Kansas City's Springbok Puzzles knows how to make a good jigsaw puzzle. They ought to; they're one of the oldest puzzle brands in the country. But two years ago, they got a phone call that would add a new dimension to their business.

"A 12-year-old contacted me from the Boston area and he asked if I wouldn't give him some puzzles for his 13th birthday," Steve Pack, President of Springbok Puzzles, said.

But Max Wallack didn't want the puzzles for himself. He intended to take them to his great-grandmother and others residents at her care facility. He had noticed that finishing a puzzle had a calming effect on Alzheimer's patients. The problem was the more complex puzzles were too hard and...

"The puzzles that had fewer pieces generally had juvenile subject matter and it really wouldn't be that appropriate for an adult," Pack said.

So Springbok and Max collaborated and this month they launched "Puzzles to Remember" , named after the non-profit organization Max started to get puzzles to Alzheimer's patients.

The 12-piece and 36-piece puzzles are the size of a 500 piece picture. So they have fewer, bigger pieces.

"And we tried to select images that were tranquil or might evoke pleasant memories of the past," Pack said.

But Springbok didn't stop there.

"I told Max that half of the proceeds of the puzzle sales that we have in November will be donated to his 501 ( c ) 3," Pack said.

Right now the "Puzzles to Remember" line can only be ordered online, but should be in retail stores next year.

So far, "Puzzles to Remember" , the 501 ( c ) 3, has distributed more than five thousand puzzles to care facilities in all 50 states and several Canadian provinces.

LINKS: Puzzles to Remember

Springbok Cares