Walk for Mental Health is May 21 at Wasena Park

The months of April and May usually signal the season of special events — especially walks and runs — as means of raising funds for numerous charities.

Upcoming is Mental Health America of Roanoke Valley’s ninth annual Walk for Mental Health, May 21 at Wasena Park.

Registration for the weeknight walk is at 6 p.m. at the brick picnic shelter, and the walk along the greenway starts at 6:30.

Kroger, Advance Auto Parts, Valley Bank, General Electric and the Law Office of Ellen Weinman are corporate sponsors of the walk that includes supper, music and other events.

More than 96 percent of every dollar donated to the agency stays in the Roanoke Valley to benefit children and adults who use the agency’s programs.

To be a walker, team captain or sponsor, call 344-0931.

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Officials of the Muscular Dystrophy Association of Southwest and Central Virginia say its second annual Roanoke Muscle Walk Amazing Race was “a tremendous success” that raised $20,000 more than the inaugural event last year.

The April 14 event pitted MDA family teams and corporate teams in games and relays similar to those played by campers at MDA summer camps at the W.E. Skelton 4-H Educational Center. It raised $60,000 to provide services to adults and children living with one of 43 neuromuscular diseases that MDA is dedicated to curing.

Teams representing Allstate, Norfolk Southern, Appalachian Power Co., Roanoke Letter Carriers Branch 524, Bedford County firefighters, Blue Eagle Credit Union, Salem VA Credit Union, Ferguson Enterprises, Team Orthopedics of Carilion Clinic, the Ladies of Harley, Western Virginia Water Authority, Hidden Valley Country Club and Kappa Alpha chapters of Washington and Lee University, Virginia Tech and Roanoke College, along with family teams, competed in wheelchair obstacle courses, toilet paper mummy races and a banana relay.

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The United Black Veterans Society of Virginia in March honored 17 Roanoke and New River valley veterans who are 90 years old and older during its first Senior Sweetheart Veterans Recognition.

Air Force veteran Dempsey Morgan, 93, a Tuskegee Airman who has died since the ceremony, and Army veteran Alphonzo Holland Sr., 96 and a civic leader, also were inducted as honorary lifetime members of the society.

The society, organized in 2011, partnered with several veterans organizations and facilities in honoring the World War II-era veterans.

Those recognized are Charles Anderson, 92, Army; Joseph Brown, 93, Navy; John Deskins, 91, Army; Mills Hobbs, 90, Army; Nile Horne, 98; Joseph Johnson, 92, Navy; John Kessler, 91, Army; Charles Neighbor, 90, Army; Van Patterson, 94, Army; Frances Rice, 92, Army; Malcolm Shaw, 100, Army; Amelia Spencer, 92, Army; A. Byron Smith, 94, Army; and McCarthy Woods, 90, Coast Guard. Anthony Hehn, 102, who died in late 2012, was recognized posthumously.

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