By: Scott McLendon

The residents of Meadowcrest Apartments dwell in an assisted-living community, but that hasn’t halted them from lending a helping hand to the American Cancer Society. On June 10, the Meadowcrest inhabitants will hold their first annual Meadowcrest Rock-a-thon.

“We started thinking about this about a year ago,” said Peggy Fowler, site manager. “We wanted a way to give back because everyone is so good to Meadowcrest. Our property is enabled to house handicapped and elderly residents. We sat down with our tenants to figure out something they could do since there’s a lot that they can’t do. Everybody can rock.”

“We decided that we could raise money for the American Cancer Society by rocking. Our tenants went out and got sponsors. The residents set goals for how much they wanted to bring in, and there’s a prize for the one who brings in the most money.”

The invitation has been extended to the community to join in their rocking for a cure. Along with the chance to rock with the some of the community’s senescent residents, the free event will include hot dogs and chips. Scott Fowler will be performing live music for the rockers to enjoy. The event will begin at 10 a.m. and end at 4 p.m.

“This is our first time ever so we are excited about it,” Fowler said. “The tenants are very excited and they are working so hard; some of them have done exceptionally well. We’ve had some tenants reach their goals already and some who have tripled it; it’s unbelievable. Our goal for the entire group was $2,000 and we have passed that, but we don’t want that to stop.”

“We have a tenant who rides his bike into town to get his donations,” Fowler said. “We have another lady who is blind that is getting all her donations through the phone, without having to leave the apartment. We have people from 93 years old to down in their 50s, but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter whether they’re out with a vehicle or collecting money on their bicycle; it doesn’t matter. They’re out there working.”

Donation boxes will be made available for those in attendance who wish to give.

“I think we’ll do a different cause each year,” Fowler said. “This year it’s for cancer, but next year could be for heart disease or for Alzheimer’s. We’ll let the tenants decide which to donate to. We will be doing one a year.”

The first annual Meadowcrest Rock-a-thon will take place under the gazebo in the Meadowcrest Apartment complex just to the right of Crenshaw Community Hospital in Luverne.