Mizpah Shrine Temple Parade Friday In Downtown Warsaw
Mizpah Shrine Temple Parade Friday In Downtown Warsaw
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
Mizpah Shrine Temple Parade Friday In Downtown WarsawIt has been 11 years since a Mizpah Shrine Temple parade has filled the streets of Warsaw.
There will be more than 200 Shriners from 22 counties in northeast Indiana that will participate in the Temple parade Friday.
The last time a Shrine Temple parade was in Warsaw was in 1999, according to Kosciusko County Shrine Club President Bill Hartman.
The hour-long parade will begin at 8:30 p.m. on West Center Street by Warsaw Post Office and Owen's and travel on High Street, and back to Columbia Street.
Kosciusko County Shrine Club members Dr. Russell Heyde and Bruce Howe will serve as grand marshals for Friday's Temple parade.
The parade will feature Shrine members on horse and foot patrol as well as on mini bikes, mini race cars and bag pipes.
The parade is in conjunction with Warsaw's First Friday and Downtown Days.
Kosciusko County Shrine Club was chartered in the late 1930s and has more than 250 members.
The club meets the second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Shrine Building at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds.
Besides Hartman serving as president, Chris Kehler is vice president, Dave Colquitt is secretary and Franklin Jones is treasurer.
The club has fundraising events including onion sales, golf outings, fish fries, turkey shoots and assists with fair parking to support its hospital efforts and related programs.
Locally, the organization is best known for taking third-graders from local schools to the Shrine Circus in Fort Wayne.
"Our first trip in 1946 was with 12 kids in four cars and we now take more than 1,500 children each year from five school corporations in more than 30 buses," Hartman said.
The trip is escorted by police, fire and rescue personnel.
"We could not do this without the generous support of our schools and, of course, the great support from our local community," Hartman said.
Mizpah Shrine Center, Fort Wayne, was chartered in 1910 and marked its 100th anniversary in May.
Shriner's official philanthropy is Shriner's Hospital For Children.
The hospital is for children in an international network of 22 hospitals dedicated to providing specialty pediatric care, innovative research and teaching programs.
Children up to the age of 18 with orthopedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries and cleft lip and palate are eligible for admission to the hospital.
All care, services and transportation is provided at no cost to the patient, their parents or legal guardian.
The first Shriner's Hospital opened in Shreveport, La., in 1922.
Mizpah is associated with orthopedic hospitals in Chicago, Ill., and a burn center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Mizpah has six vans to transport patients to and from the hospitals and are driven by volunteers from The Shrine Club's membership.
