A nonprofit started by Actor Seth Rogen and his wife has donated $1 million to support the Home Instead Senior Care Alzheimer's and Dementia Care Relief Grant Program, which provides free in-home care to families coping with Alzheimer's disease.
Hilarity for Charity, which Rogen and his wife Lauren started, operates within the Alzheimer's Association.
It's not the first time the organization has offered grants for in-home care services. It has been doing so since its inception in October 2014. This past year, nearly 25,000 hours of care have been awarded to eligible families in the United States and Canada through the program.
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Families can apply for the current round of grant funding by applying online at www.hilarityforcharity.org. The deadline is Dec. 31.
Recipients will be connected with a Home Instead office in their community, which contracts with a caregiver specially trained in assisting people with Alzheimer's or other dementia-related conditions. Grants range from 25-hour arrangements to more long-term care, depending on the needs of the family.
The Rogens began their charity work in 2012 after Lauren Rogen's mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's at the age of 55.
The disease "requires near-constant care, which is exhausting for families without professional help," said Seth Rogen in a statement. "We've raised these funds to help those families who may not otherwise have access to this type of care."
Jeff Huber, president and CEO of Home Instead Senior Care, said in a statement that families caring for those afflicted with Alzheimer's often neglect to care for themselves.
He said his organization prides itself in connecting those families with caregivers "so that they may have peace of mind that their loved ones are in excellent hands while they're away."
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According to information from the Alzheimer's Association, friends and families caring for loved ones with dementia-related conditions put in an estimated 18 billion hours of care in 2014. The association estimates that, due to this physical and emotional toll, Alzheimer's and dementia caregivers accrued almost $10 billion in additional healthcare costs of their own over that span.
Twitter: @JELagasse