Parading for a cause

Seniors parade for Meals-on-Wheels

Jon Meyerjmeyer@idahopress.com

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

HOMEDALE — Commuters between Wilder and Homedale were treated to an eye-catching spectacle Saturday morning as a wheelchair-pushing man sporting a toga and flowing white beard was joined by a parade of livestock,

Marines, classic cars and a police escort in a five-mile trek for charity.Bob Hulse, 67, a disabled veteran and the Karcher Mall Santa Claus of the past two decades, was joined in his endeavor for the Meals-on-Wheels program by numerous spectators and supporters as he pushed fellow veteran Jim Duncan, 84, in his wheelchair from Mitchell’s Wilder Market to the Homedale Senior Center.

How to help: Anyone interested in making further donations to the Meals on Wheels program at the Homedale Senior Center can mail them to PO Box 848, Homedale, ID 83628.

The fundraiser started as a friendly stunt organized through some harmless banter one day at the senior center, Hulse said.“Well I just opened my mouth and said if someone puts $100 on the table for Meals on Wheels I’ll push Jim from Wilder Market to Homedale. Sure enough someone had $100,” Hulse said. “Then I opened it again and said for $25 more I’d do it in a dress; well they had it but some of the seniors thought the dress was a little much so I decided on a toga and red longhandle underwear.”

Hulse added that soon it had turned into a growing parade with locals pledging to join in, along with Ms. Idaho Senior America 2006 Jane Thiel and an ever expanding flow of donations. There was a Marine in full dress uniform for the Toys for Tots program, walking beside Hulse and Duncan the entire way.

“We did it a lot faster than I thought, four-and-a-half miles an hour, and we raised a little over $700 already with more coming in,” Hulse said. “There’s talk about making it an annual thing.”

That money will go a long way to benefit the Meals-on-Wheels program, which costs, on average, $3 per tray, said Homedale Senior Center coordinator Shirley McAbee.“Some of the people in Meals-on-Wheels can’t afford to pay; this will help pay for gas and keep the orders up,” McAbee said.

When Hulse walked into the senior center around 11 a.m. he asked McAbee if she had thought he would make it.

“I told him I thought he was stubborn enough that he’d do it if he set his mind to it, McAbee said with a laugh. “He let me know that next time he opened his big mouth to tell him to keep it shut,” she added jokingly.