2025 Andrus Award recipient creates connection for those affected by memory loss

Denise Fettig-Loftesnes of Bismarck is the recipient of the 2025 AARP Andrus Award for Community Service – AARP’s most prestigious volunteer award.

Fettig-Loftesnes is the founder of the Bismarck Memory Café, a place where individuals with memory loss, along with their caregivers, families, and friends, gather for connection and knowledge. Her efforts have reduced isolation, strengthened support networks, and empowered caregivers with tools and resources that make a real difference in their day-to-day lives.

The AARP Andrus Award for Community Service recognizes outstanding community service and symbolizes the power and ability individuals aged 50 and older have to make a difference in the lives of others. The award is given to just one North Dakotan annually and includes a $1,000 donation from AARP ND to a charitable organization chosen by the recipient. This year, that donation will go to The Dream Center in Bismarck.

Inspired by her parents, who were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within weeks of each other, Fettig-Loftesnes says the goal of the Memory Café is to ensure that those with memory loss and their loved ones don’t just survive, they thrive.

Lane Hoffer nominated Fettig-Loftesnes and says her leadership not only fills a critical gap in local services, “it inspires others to see aging not as a decline, but as a continued journey filled with community, purpose, and care.”

Fettig-Loftenes was honored at the 2025 AARP ND Community Celebrations in Fargo and Bismarck in November.

AARP North Dakota received four nominations for the Andrus Award this year. The other nominees are Sue Bergan of Coleharbor, a volunteer protecting history through her work with the Ward County Historical Society; Martha Berryhill, Fargo, who played a leading role in creating intergenerational connections between the Red River Rainbow Seniors and area high schools and colleges; and Betty Falkenstein of Wilton has been a volunteer with Sanford Home Care in Bismarck for 13 years.

To learn more about the Andrus Award, visit aarp.org/AndrusAward.