04/24/2026
🎉🌟The CSULB SLP Department is very proud of our undergraduate students who established a chapter of National Alzheimer’s Buddies at CSULB! 🎉🎊
National Alzheimer’s Buddies (NAB) 💜 is a national non-profit organization that pairs college students with nursing home residents in the intermediate-to-late stages of Alzheimer’s disease to help combat social isolation. 🫂💜
🏆Ava Casas is the President of CSULB NAB and worked to bring a chapter to CSULB in Spring 2026 after feeling inspired to build a community of fellow students who are passionate about providing companionship to memory-care residents and giving back to the Long Beach community. 🦈🌟
Student volunteers attend one-hour shifts once a week at Mom and Dad’s Homes, which are memory care facilities in Lakewood and Long Beach. 🏠💜 They lead the activities such as making flower bouquets, bookmarks, bracelets, as well as coloring, sensory activities, and sharing stories and poems. 💐🎨🖌
🌟The CSULB NAB board currently consists of Speech-Language Pathology undergraduate students Ava Casas, Gavynne Alcantara, Mary Vu, Zophia Saban-Hardwick, Kenzie Chu, and Emily Cano 🗣🗨 .However, general members also come from nursing, psychology, health science, and other majors, and students from any major are welcome to join! 🧠👥
🎉The SLP Department is proud of our students who actively support the community and demonstrate our commitment and passion for people who have communication difficulties due to various neurological conditions. 🧠🌟 Long Beach Current Newspaper recently wrote and published an article about the CSULB Chapter of National Alzheimer's Buddies, please check it out: 📰🦈https://lbcurrent.com/news/2026/03/30/new-club-connects-student-volunteers-with-alzheimers-patients/