Purple and white balloons were in abundance Thursday morning at the Atria Hearthstone senior living community, 3515 S.W. 6th.
No, it wasn’t a celebration related to Kansas State University, which proudly boasts purple and white as its official colors.
Rather, the balloons welcomed about 75 attendees to the second annual Purple Pancake Breakfast held in a courtyard outside Atria Hearthstone’s Life Guidance neighborhood building.
The breakfast, prepared by chef Rocco Grippo and several other Atria Hearthstone employees, was a fundraiser for the Heart of America chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Many Hearthstone residents along with several dozen guests from the community enjoyed a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, bacon, sausage and fruit salad. A $5 donations was requested for the breakfast. A silent auction also was held in conjunction with the event.
Sue Ferguson, executive director of the Life Guidance neighborhood, said the breakfast was part of the “Paint the Town Purple” initiative, sponsored by the local Alzheimer’s Association.
Ferguson said Atria Hearthstone residents worked with staff members to get ready for the breakfast, even tie-dying shirts purple and white to reflect the colors of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Ferguson said Atria Hearthstone has an area designed for Alzheimer’s Disease patients, some of whom were in attendance at the breakfast, which ran from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Thursday.
“You can still be active with Alzheimer’s,” Ferguson said. “We want to keep our residents active and engaged. That’s our primary goal.”
Among attendees at the breakfast were Don Wymore, 77, a resident at Atria Hearthstone, and his wife, Bertie Wymore, 73, of Osage City, and daughter, Paige Wymore-Wynn, 51, of Kansas City, Kan.
Bertie Wymore said her husband has Alzheimer’s Disease, which played a major role in her daughter and herself driving from out of town to the breakfast.
“They’ve got a wonderful turnout,” Bertie Wymore said. “The weather really cooperated.”
She said she wanted to help support the Alzheimer’s Association and its work with individuals like her husband.
“They feel terrific physically,” Bertie Wymore said of people with Alzheimer’s Disease. “Don does -- he’s in excellent physical shape. But it just kind of messes with their minds.”
Debbie Holroyd, dementia care specialist with the Heart of American Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, said she was thrilled some Atria Hearthstone residents got to take part in the breakfast.
“It’s so great we can incorporate the residents in this event,” she said. “These are the people we work with every day.”
Atria Hearthstone has raised more than $10,000 through the years for the Alzheimer’s Association.
The breakfast also was designed to drum up support for the annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s, set for 10 a.m. June 8 at Hummer Sports Park, 751 S.W. East Circle Drive South.
For more information, call (785) 271-1844.
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