First annual PLH Run through Time makes musical passage

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A group of about 60 runners, walkers and folks simply looking for some good, clean fun — and to support a good cause — took part in the first annual Perry Lutheran Home Run through Time 5K Saturday morning.

Local businesses, church groups, athletic groups, civic and social groups, families and friends were found in teams, running and walking through the musical decades along the route, with music and other memorabilia marking the decades from today all the way back to the 1930s.

Funds raised by the Perry Lutheran Home charity fundraiser were split with HomeCare Services Inc. of Dallas County, which provides the Meals on Wheels services and congregate meals programs in Perry and throughout the county.

Participants were encouraged to dress up in their favorite decade’s attire or like their favorite band or musician, with prizes awarded for best-dressed individual and best-dressed team. Deb Miller stepped up to lead the runners and walkers in a pre-race Zumba warm-up, with DJ Pat Graney of Graney Entertainment strirring old memories with his great songs from all eras.

Lawrence Bice of rural Perry brought his 1928 Model A Ford for use as a pace car, but the runners through time soon passed the classic by like an old Tin Lizzie.[wpedon id=”85410″ align=”left”]

Starting at the Spring Valley Assisted Living campus of the Perry Lutheran Home, the runners and walkers first traversed the musical decades backward from the 2010s to the 1930s and when they reached Mt. Olivet Lutheran Church, the record was flipped, the tape rewound and musical time moved forward to the start point.

The era of the 1940s was passed at the Perry Lutheran Home Main Campus. “In the Mood” and “String of Pearls” were among the old favorites of Spring Valley residents Tom Quinlan and Betty Schwarzkopf, who were known to cut the rug in their youth with Binx and Chick, respectively.

Along with the musical circuit, there was face painting, a photo booth, water balloons, a bake sale and other goings on, including an All-Ability Decade Dash at 10:30 a.m., designed for young children, children with disabilities or in wheelchairs or adults in wheelchairs or walkers.

The Run through Time is part of the Perry Lutheran Home’s year-long effort to raise awareness of the needs of elders in our community.[wpedon id=”85410″ align=”left”]

The program is called StepUp,” said Perry Lutheran Home Fund Development Director Wanda Pritzel, “and it’s about stepping out of our routines and comfort zones and stepping forward to become aware of and take action for a generation of people who need us. It’s also about teaching the next generations about our elders – valuing them, connecting with them and finding ways to serve together with them.”

Pritzel said many young people are unaware of the needs of the elderly in their neighborhoods.

“You’d be surprised to know the truths of elderly who might be living right next door,” she said. “They may not be able to afford food or have the vehicle or physical ability to go to the store and buy groceries. They might not be able to clean their home or cut their grass anymore. They may be in a care community and have no family to visit, to provide even basic needs, such as clothing, or to send them a birthday card. All proceeds from this event will go to support elder citizens living in Perry Lutheran Homes unable to afford the basics,  like clothing and shoes, and to those living in their homes in Perry who cannot afford food in receiving daily meals from Home Delivered Meals.”