65 vehicles join parade outside the Lutheran Home at Topton

There was honking, cheering and waving Wednesday outside the Lutheran Home at Topton.

Residents watched from windows as a parade of fire trucks, ambulances and about 65 privately owned vehicles snaked around the campus of the home, run by Diakon Senior Living Services.

“(It was) a wonderful celebration,” said Debra Gogno, director of the home. “The support from the community, families, residents and staff was priceless.”

For many residents, the past five months have been difficult. The home is restricting visitors to minimize the residents’ exposure to the coronavirus.

The virtual visits and window waves just aren’t the same, said the Rev. Colleen Kristula, chaplain of the senior living facility.

“We’ve been shut down to visitors since March 12, and our residents are so missing their families,” Kristula said.

To help brighten their spirits and those of the staff, Kristula reached out to the Brandywine Heights School District, area churches and others for help organizing the event.

The response was overwhelming, she said.

“This is a wonderful community here,” Kristula said. “Everyone was just aching to do something for residents.”

Eight emergency vehicles led the parade, followed by cars, trucks and vans filled with the residents’ families and members of the community.

“At first we thought there were not a lot of participants, until we turned the corner and saw all the cars extended down Home Avenue,” said Sharon Merolli of Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County.

Merolli’s mother, Theresa Merolli, is a resident of the home.

Arriving early, Sharon; her twin sister, Shirl Lutterschmidt of Kutztown; and Shirl’s sister-in-law, Cathy Lutterschmidt, snagged a prime spot right behind the firetrucks.

Participants included members of the Topton ambulance and fire departments, the Trexlertown Fire Company in Upper Macungie Township, Lehigh County, and the Brandywine Heights Rec Cheerleading organization.

From her seat in the back of the car, Merolli looked up at the watching residents.

“I could see people waving at my mom’s dining room window, and I waved back,” she said.

Family, friends and community members helped cheer residents of the Lutheran Home at Topton with a car parade.

COURTESY OF THE LUTHERAN HOME AT TOPTON Family, friends and community members helped cheer residents of the Lutheran Home at Topton with a car parade Wednesday. About eight emergency vehicles and 65 privately owned vehicles took part.

Emily PietrowskI, a member of the Brandywine Heights Rec Cheerleading organization, holds up a sign during a car parade Wednesday at the Lutheran Home at Topton. Members of the organization helped make the event a success.