About Memory Cafe Directory

Founder and Registrar

My name is Dave Wiederrich. I created and operate Memory Cafe Directory. Inspiration came from attending a kickoff event to establish a local Memory Cafe in the Portland, Oregon area. Although a new concept for most of the participants, it had a powerful impact on me.

Further research into the Memory Cafe concept found good information about their origins, but not about local Memory Cafes. The information was scattered in many, many locations. I decided a centralized, National Directory was needed to build awareness, and to fuel continued growth in new Cafes – so I created it!

Memory Cafe Directory Inspiration

The inspiration for Memory Cafe Directory came from the event shown above. The bigger story is that it was a strategy to bring attention to a product a friend and I developed called KalendarKards Memory Support System. This was a card-based reminder system for individuals living with early memory loss.

Initially, Memory Cafe Directory was branded very clearly as, “Brought to you by KalendarKards” as one way to market the product. (I had no idea this side project would grow to an international directory!)

We successfully sold many KalendarKards systems on Amazon, but just not quite at a level that warranted continued operations. Although we were proud to have helped many people feel more comfortable and confident, we made the difficult decision to discontinue the product.

Central Source

The goal for Memory Cafe Directory was to create a centralized source of information for families seeking Memory Cafes, and Memory Cafes seeking participants. The original “Master Plan” was considered in three phases:

Phase 1Seek out, identify, and enter all available information. When starting, the goal initially was simply to load as much Memory Cafe information that could be found. Mostly, that was accomplished through online news articles announcing a group’s upcoming event, then reaching out to confirm all the information. Other nuggets of information came from social media postings.

Phase 2Confirm the entries! This actually has two components. The first, is where you help keep the information current. Initially, the listings were new and not many people new about the Directory. Now, there is usually one request to update information currently shown for every two that are added.

The second part of Phase 2 is a systematic outreach to the contact of older entries. Initially, there was no way to know how old any entry was. Eventually, I started adding the note, “Last updated: [Month | Year]” to the bottom of each entry. Each week, I reach out to a few of those “dateless” entries to either confirm or remove the information. Soon, I’ll be targeting the oldest entries with dates, and work toward the present.

This is an ongoing effort, but is key to ensuring Memory Cafe Directory remains accurate, relevant, and most importantly, helpful!

Phase 3Growth! With over 800 listings from the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K., many, many people are finding this valuable resource in their local community. Thousands of people visit Memory Cafe Directory each month looking for, or wanting to list, a Memory Cafe near them.

Memory Cafe Directory is taking on a life of its own. People are obviously finding it in droves, but there is so much more to do. Although there are many Memory Cafe listings, this is only really just scratching the surface. The fact that a Memory Cafe is not listed, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist… it just means we haven’t found it yet!

Thank you for helping – and continue to help – make Memory Cafe Directory the best resource it can be!

Advertising

With the already valuable collection of Memory Cafe listings (and growing every week) and the significant number of visitors looking for that information, Memory Cafe Directory is a valuable location on the Internet to expand your brand’s footprint. Visitors are looking for valuable information about Memory Cafes and much more. Learn how you can be visible to them.

Website Design and Consulting

When the need arose for a KalendarKards website, and eventually for Memory Cafe Directory, it was easy for me to build those. I’ve had experience in building website for many years and that was a valuable tool in the toolbox.

In addition to maintaining Memory Cafe Directory, I work with small to medium businesses to help them design and build – or rebuild – their websites. Here’s a few examples of websites I’ve built. Some were for clients, and others are my own hobbies:

• Unlimited Hydroplane Racing
• The Dugout Sports Bar
• New Again Auto Detail
• Auto Detailer Directory
• The Whole Care Network

I welcome new projects, whether it is web design or if you just need some guidance. Please get in touch.

Former Corporate Career

Memory Cafe Directory is my “Part 2” after spending 34 years in the corporate world. Corporate Communications, Sales, Marketing, IT, Operations – and more – was a very enjoyable Part 1.

Reach Out

Whether you have a Memory Cafe to list, are looking for caregiving resources, or have a website project in mind, just let me know!

Thank you.

Dave