Our founder, Peggy Wyllie, while helping a friend look for help, discovered that there were no organizations in Polk County, NC and the surrounding foothills area that offered support for those caring for loved ones with Alzheimer’s/dementia disease. She declined an opportunity with an organization and decided to respond to the lack of support for local Caregiver’s in 2022 by founding Foothills Dementia /Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Group. Since then, we have grown from 3 Caregivers to more than 50 Caregivers by December 2024 under the name of Caregiver Connections. As we grow from 2025 through 2027, we will need more resources to
help more than 500 Caregivers in our local area.

Our mission was to provide a safe environment for Caregivers forming connections with others “in the same boat” achieving a robust network of mutual support.

Additionally, we wanted to provide guidance, practical advice, and information regarding available resources in our surrounding communities.

We remain an all-volunteer non-profit organization. We have limited resources of our own but have teamed with other local organizations for meeting spaces such as White Oak Manor for Board Meetings, The Meeting Place in Columbus, North Carolina, and Holy Cross Episcopal Church in Tryon, North Carolina. While our focus is on Caregivers, we teamed with other programs that focus on loved ones such as the EASE program at FENCE. Additionally, we have provided over 20 training events for caregivers through the gracious support of numerous people and organization.