The community of Perry, together with the Perry Lutheran Homes, stepped up in a big way to support Perry’s elderly citizens Saturday, July 31, with sponsors from Perry and surrounding towns as well as a runners, walkers and furry friends coming together to raise nearly $10,000 for the third annual Run Through Time 5K Fun Run.
Proceeds from the run will be distributed to residents unable to afford the cost of needed services and to help furnish safe and accessible outdoor gathering places for residents and their families.
In addition to the Run Through Time 5K Fun Run, sponsored by Osmundson Manufacturing and other Perry businesses, the Perry Lutheran Homes celebrated with the community 65 years of caring and serving.
Festivities included the Hotsy Totsy food truck, live music with Steve and Sean Parnell of BRG Music, 5K run tunes from Raccoon Valley Radio and their Big Red and Lil’ Big Red mobile units, games for kids of all ages sponsored by Acorns & Oaks Inter-Generational Christian Daycare, two kids’ runs, sponsored by Osmundson Manufacturing, and fresh lemonade shakeups from Lisa Roderer and the Perry Lutheran Homes culinary team.
This year will mark the last year of the Run Through Time 5K fun run. With the success of Project Deliver the Love in May 2021, resources will be redirected toward growing the event to reach more area elderly folks and to helping other communities replicate Project Deliver the Love across Iowa and the nation.
“Through Project Deliver the Love, we were able to reach over 350 local, elderly people with a personal visit and basket filled with food, encouragement and love with the help of nearly 150 volunteers to assemble baskets and hand-deliver the love,” said Mollie Clark, director of marketing for the Perry Lutheran Homes. “The goal was to create awareness, to help equip our community to find the ‘invisible elderly,’ to pay attention to their needs, to create action and to form lasting connections. And that’s exactly what we accomplished with Project Deliver the Love.”
Beautiful weather was in store for the Run Through Time 5K participants. Many runners and walkers ran in honor or memory of special elderly people in their lives. Volunteers helped to direct traffic and runners and cheer them on as they made their way to the Raccoon Valley River trail and back to Perry Lutheran Homes Eden Acres Campus.
Along the route were music stations playing songs from decades past, song lyric signs and decade signs. Upon return, runners were greeted with fresh bananas and bottled water donated by Martin Bros. Distributing.
Many sponsors contributed to the success of the Run Through Time 5K. Grammy Level sponsor Osmundson Manufacturing; Vinyl Level sponsor Raccoon Valley Radio; 8-Track Level sponsors Perry Chief and Carris Family Funeral Homes & Cremation Care; Cassette Level sponsor Blue Stone Therapy; CD Level sponsors Thrivent, Martin Bros. Distributing, Edward Jones – Andrew Brommer, ThePerryNews.com, Veterinary Medical Associates, PC, and GreenState Credit Union; and MP3 Level sponsors Perry Greenhouse & Supply, Perry Perk, BRG Music, Acorns & Oaks Inter-Generational Christian Daycare, and Kurt & Deb Kruse. In addition, volunteers from the community and Perry Lutheran Homes helped to make the event enjoyable for all.
“Thank you to all of our volunteers and sponsors,” said the Rev. Max Phillips, CEO of the Perry Lutheran Homes. “We are so grateful for your support of the elderly folks in our care and in the community. Together, we were able to raise nearly $10,000 to help residents unable to afford the cost of needed services and care.”
Phillips said the cost of long-term care housing and services can be overwhelming to some.
“Not everyone is able to pay privately or have a long-term care policy or other benefits take care of those expenses,” he said. “Many for-profit senior care communities turn away residents in need who are not able to pay privately. Or, if they are able to pay privately for a period of time, they will then stop providing residents housing and care should they run out of funds. Thus, residents must find the help and care they need elsewhere. That’s where Perry Lutheran Homes steps in. Because we are a nonprofit senior living community with a Christian mission, Perry Lutheran Homes serves and loves our valuable elderly citizens regardless of their ability to pay to cover the full cost of the help they need. Medicaid reimbursement only covers around 80 percent of the actual cost to care leaving nonprofit nursing homes, like Perry Lutheran Homes, with a challenging financial deficit each year.”
Gifts from community partners, congregations, community members, staff, resident families, and more make it possible for Perry Lutheran Homes to serve now and into the future as a place where all elderly peoples’ lives are valued. Financial gifts can come in the form of monthly or annual gifts, stock or IRA gifts, life insurance gifts or bequests in your will. You can help care for our community’s elderly members in need by making a secure online financial gift today.
To help furnish safe and accessible outdoor gathering places for residents and their families, you can also make a gift securely online, or you can mail a check to Perry Lutheran Homes, 1300 28th St., Perry, IA 50220.
Elder generations have done so much to care for others over the years. It’s an honor and privilege to now care for them. Mark your calendars for Wednesday, May 4, 2022 for Project Deliver the LOVE. The goal has been set to reach 450 elderly people in 2022 which is 100 more than in 2021. Be on the lookout for medium to large baskets with handles. Drop them off at Perry Lutheran Homes Eden Acres Campus at 1300 28th Street, Perry, Iowa. Enter the main, east entry door off 28th Street and drop them off in the entryway at any time. Perry Lutheran Homes team members will make sure that the baskets make their way to the storage room and put to good use next year.
Mollie Clark is the marketing director for the Perry Lutheran Homes.
