Walking‘for the Health of It’
Charity walk at Fox River Park benefits KAFASI
BY MATTHEW OLSON
molson@kenoshanews.com
Flooding and television pilots created some last minute changes for the Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services Inc.’s (KAFASI) sixth annual charity walk for senior services.
But at the head of Saturday’s walk at Fox River Park was a constant.
Ione Smith Kreamer of Kenosha participated in her sixth straight senior services charity walk, called “Walk for the Health of It,” on Saturday. But walking a few miles is nothing out of the ordinary for the 92-year-old retired school teacher.
Kreamer said she sets aside 30 or 40 minutes a day to walk, always at different times of the day, and walks about two miles a day.
“You have to get exercise and fresh air,” Kreamer said. “It’s about what you establish for your life. If you don’t have focus, life becomes meaningless.”
Saturday’s walk raised money for KAFASI’s senior services in Kenosha County, which include Meals on Wheels and the friendly visitors programs, which also is familiar ground for Kreamer. She has been involved in working for senior’s programs and serving related committees since retiring as a teacher in 1977.
“I said the community has been good to me, now I have to pay back that community,” Kreamer said. “It’s just part of my life to help neighbors.”
This year the walk raised more than $12,000 for senior services from the nearly 125 walkers. The path to this walk did have a few twists.
Kenosha actor Daniel J. Travanti has served as the walk’s honorary chairman since 2004. The two-time Emmy winner was slated to reprise that role this year, but was called out of town this week to film a television pilot.
“He always said if he got a call, he’d have to miss,” Gary Brown, executive director of KAFASI said. “He’s a great supporter of the walk and he plans on being back next year.”
Travanti still completed some of the course, in a way on Saturday. Members of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program brought a cardboard cutout of Travanti with them during the walk.
Another adjustment was caused be recent flooding on the Fox River. The walk’s normal waterside route was changed to a drier path between parking lots at Fox River Park. Walkers could have still put in their five kilometers by walking the adjusted path three times.
Some pre-walk raindrops gave way to a sunny day, preventing any further adjustments.
Many of Saturday’s walkers included people who work with or have been touched by the agency’s services.
Kathi Yearian, of Lake Forest, was among the crowd of walkers. She has walked every year in this event with her father, Chuck Kovacic of Pleasant Prairie, who is part of the agency’s volunteer escort service. Yearian said she keeps on walking to thank the agency.
“They used to help my grandparents,” Yearian said. “And I come out in memory of my grandparents.”
This year was also the first time the walk has only been held in the western part of Kenosha County. The first year of the walk was held on the lakefront and previous incarnations have featured a city and western county version.
Brown said attendance at the downtown walk had been dwindling, but the western version was seeing strong numbers.
“We have a lot of volunteers in the western part of the county,” Brown said.
Saturday’s event ended with a raffle and a picnic.
KENOSHA NEWS PHOTO BY BILL SIEL
Rose Cerda-Perez carries a cutout of Kenosha actor Daniel J. Travanti, who could not attend Saturday morning’s “Walk for the Health of It” event to raise money for the Kenosha Area Family and Aging Services Inc. in Silver Lake’s Fox River Park. Travanti is traditionally the honorary chairman of the walk, but was called out of town to shoot a television pilot. Cerda-Perez works for the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program.
KENOSHA NEWS PHOTO BY BILL SIEL
Ione Smith Kreamer, 92, participates in Saturday’s “Walk for the Health of It” event in Silver Lake’s Fox River Park.
