.jpg)
The Grand Baby Project, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting people with dementia and their families, has moved to Rock Island in a “full circle” moment for its founder.
Tonja Moon worked in geriatric healthcare for decades before founding The Grand Baby Project five years ago. The nonprofit launched and previously operated out of Houston, but Moon moved the nonprofit to Rock Island to support her elderly parents. She said the move feels like a “full circle moment” because of her grandmother who inspired her work.
“It’s just crazy to think that right down the road in Eagle Lake, my grandmother went to work every day as a telephone operator at the phone company, and that is where she raised her kids,” Moon said. “Now, I’ve come full circle, and now the nonprofit created in her honor is being operated out of Colorado County where she was born and raised.”
Around 20 years ago, Moon’s grandmother, Ruby, suffered from Alzheimer’s, one of the over 20 types of dementia. As her disease progressed, Ruby became more aggressive and combative, especially since medication did not work for her. One day, Moon’s cousin brought home a tiny, $6 plastic doll from Walmart to try and distract their grandmother.
“We wrapped that little goofy looking doll in a nursing home towel, and my grandmother thought she had been handed a newborn baby ... She wound up having her doll for quite a long time. No more fighting, no more kicking and screaming,” Moon said. “When she would isolate all alone, the way we would get her to come out of her room at the nursing home was [her baby]. Everything became about her baby…It really became her entire purpose in life, and it was a very beautiful thing to watch.”
Moon said when her grandmother eventually died, God told her to learn more about dementia treatment and bring it to the forefront of senior healthcare. Moon said she dismissed the idea at the time but eventually revisited it after her daughter left for college. She discovered that dementia doll therapy was relatively unexplored. She had to travel abroad to receive education and training specific to her goals.
“The science behind it is that there are certain chemicals in our brain that are released when we hold something warm and soft. There are documented chemicals that are released when someone holds a baby specifically,” Moon said. “…We all have an innate ability to nature. As humans, it’s what we want; it’s what we do; it’s what we crave. We are not meant to be alone.”
Moon also explained that the dolls help people with dementia feel a sense of purpose again and feel grounded to reality through physical sensation. Moon reported that the dolls result in people with dementia experiencing decreased aggression, decreased outburst, improved sleep, improved emotional control and stronger verbal communication. Near the end of her studies, she founded The Grand Baby Project with the goal to bring dolls to people with dementia globally.
“My first year, my goal was to deliver a hundred babies, and in three months, we delivered 1,200 and haven’t looked back,” Moon said.
According to Moon, The Grand Baby project has delivered over 5,000 therapy dolls to all 50 states and three continents and has trained over 4,000 dementia caregivers. With the move, Moon said she intends to transition the nonprofit to be more local and community focused.
“Now being located here, we are going to be able to do a lot more locally. A lot of our efforts over the past two years have been throughout Texas and abroad in the US. But now with our teams in place and that we’re bigger, I can personally focus on bringing things back home,” Moon said. “…It’s like God said, ‘Ok, we are going to go and touch all of these people and going to get infrastructure set up, but you’re going to bring this back home where it’s intended to be.’” Moon said she intends to shift some of the services the nonprofit offers to be more in-person. The nonprofit occasionally hosts online informational events and training. Moon said she wants to establish in-person support groups for the caregivers and family members of people with dementia. She also said she wants to become involved with the local medical community and engage with doctors in the area.
“This move has really allowed me as the founder of this organization that has turned into something way bigger than I could ever imagine – which is honestly God’s vision – to come back and focus on affecting people in my own, personal community.”
