Photo: Approximately 30 walkers set off from Elderwood Saturday to “paint the Valley purple.”

Johnny Williams/Morning Times

By JOHNNY WILLIAMS

Staff Writer

WAVERLY — If Elderwood’s goal was to paint the village pur-ple, then the over 30-plus commu-nity members donning purple apparel as they walked throughout the village served as the proverbial paintbrush.

Basking in bright sunshine and mild temperatures, the walkers kicked off the senior care facility’s second Annual Paint the Valley Purple event, which is a week-long fundraiser that benefits the Alzheimer’s Association.

“The Alzheimer’s Association provides free services and pro-grams to people suffering from Alzheimer’s as well as their fami-lies,” Elderwood’s Nicole Uhl said. “Having fundraisers like this ensures those programs remain free, and they wouldn’t be able to do that without the community’s support.”

Uhl said Elderwood will be holding basket raffles all week long, and on Thursday — the longest day of the year — the fa-cility will host a dunking booth to raise money.

“I’ll be in the dunking booth, Waverly Schools Superintendent Eric Knolles will be in it, and we’re trying to get other local dig-nitaries as well,” Uhl noted. “On Friday, we’ll also be hosting a rummage sale that anyone can register for. People can bring their items to sell, and the reg-istration fees will benefit the organization.”

Anyone interested in regis-tering for the rummage sale are encouraged to contact Uhl at (607) 565-2861 or simply visit Elderwood and speak to the receptionist.

Uhl added that local busi-nesses are encouraged to dec-orate their storefronts with purple merchandise to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s, and noted that the storefronts will be judged on who did it the best at the end of the week.