Perry’s Osmundson Manufacturing “StepsUp” to Provide Meals on Wheels to Vulnerable Elderly

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The community of Perry continues to StepUp to join Perry Lutheran Homes to care for the most pressing needs of its elderly citizens. A recent example that demonstrates the heart this community has for its elderly residents is a gift of $3,000 given by Heather Bruce and her team at Osmundson Manufacturing. This gift will be used to provide and deliver daily hot meals to homebound elderly and disabled people in Perry and Northern Dallas County through Perry Lutheran Homes’ Meals on Wheels project.

Melissa Gannon, Chief Operating Officer at Perry Lutheran Homes was happy to welcome Osmundson Manufacturing as a partner in providing for needy elders. Gannon noted, “This gift will go a long way to help us bring not only needed nutritious food, but also the friendly face of the volunteer who delivers the meal each day. They also serve as a daily contact with people who might not otherwise have anyone to talk to or check on them.”

Wanda Pritzel, Perry Lutheran Homes’ Director of Charitable Giving, added that gifts are still needed to make sure all elderly in our area who need food receive it. “About 85 percent of meals served through Meals on Wheels are provided at low or no cost. A donation of $45 covers a week’s worth of delivered meals for one elder citizen. Any gift helps – large or small!”

Osmundson Manufacturing is a fifth generation family-owned company producing high-quality tillage equipment and tools for the tiling and planting agriculture community, using only American made steel. Its products and its work environment are characterized by creativity, innovation, quality and providing for the needs of their customers. In addition to caring for customers, the company’s family-like work environment extends to caring for each other, and to those in the Perry community in need. "We’re concerned about the vulnerable people in our community,” said Heather Bruce, owner of Osmundson Manufacturing "For years we have supported the back-pack program which provides nutritious and easy-to-prepare food for at risk children to eat on the weekends when they would likely otherwise only get meals at school. Perry Lutheran Homes’ Meals on Wheels project seems like a natural extension of that same interest.”

Bruce first saw information about this new effort to prepare and bring needed food directly to the homes of elderly in the local news media. She then contacted Perry Lutheran Homes to see what was needed, and quickly offered to help.

Perry Lutheran Homes is grateful to Heather Bruce and Osmundson Manufacturing for their recent donation and for SteppingUp to help care for the elders right here in Perry. Since the launch of the StepUp (Serving Together our Elderly with Passion) Movement in May 2018, hundreds of individuals, organizations, churches, businesses and more have joined in SteppingUp so that no elder in our community is ever hungry, lonely, afraid or forgotten.

Anyone looking for a way to StepUp for elderly citizens in Perry can contact Wanda Pritzel at wpritzel@perrylutheranhomes.org or 515-570-2310. There are many ways, big or small, to get involved. From signing up to assemble or deliver baskets to elders in the community for Project Deliver the Love, to sponsoring the Run Through Time 5K, to volunteering to deliver Meals on Wheels and more. Fun, weekly StepUp ideas can be found by following the Perry Lutheran Homes Facebook page.  Financial gifts are needed, and can be made online at Perry Lutheran Homes’ website, or mailed directly to Perry Lutheran Homes, 2323 Willis Ave., Perry, IA 50220.

Perry Lutheran Homes is Your Christian Caring Community serving Perry and surrounding communities for over 60 years. Perry Lutheran Homes offers innovative, personalized, Christ-centered care at two campuses in Perry, IA – Willis Campus and Spring Valley Campus. Services include independent and assisted living, award-winning memory care, in-home care, respite care, skilled care, rehabilitative therapy, intermediate and long-term care, and end-of-life care.

In the Photo: Perry Lutheran Homes COO and Administrator Melissa Gannon, Director of Charitable Giving Wanda Pritzel, and Osmundson Manufacturing Owner, Heather Bruce.