Alex Slitz/Daily NewsBowling Green residents Turner Manley, 13, and his father, Brian Manley, read from “Boy’s Passage, Man’s Journey” by Brian D. Molitor during the father-son Bible study Monday at Broadway United Methodist Church.

When Steve Spencer and his wife, Debby, moved from the Ozarks to Bowling Green in 1990, they were happy with their new home but felt something was missing.

“We missed water,” Spencer said.

The installation of their first pond about a year later at their Hunts Lane home kick-started a landscape that now includes six ponds, waterfalls and streams, various plants and a few koi fish.

“We’ve added different things to it as we’ve gone along. We’re always adding different plants,” Spencer said. “It’s a journey, not a destination.”

The waters are kept clean with a filter system that works similar to that of an aquarium.

“It’s a unique pond system. It’s all cement,” Spencer said. “I can clean most of it with a leaf rake or a dip net.”

When someone asked the couple to participate in the Barren River Long Term Care Ombudsman Program’s first Parade of Ponds, the Spencers wanted to help.

“It’s a good cause,” Spencer said.

Their home will be one of seven locations in the 2010 Parade of Ponds from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at any pond location, by calling (800) 355-7580 or visiting the ombudsman website at www.klaid.org/ombudsman.

Proceeds will benefit the ombudsman program, an advocacy group for residents living in nursing facilities, personal care homes and family care homes in the Barren River Area Development District.

“The program has two staff and a volunteer base of 25 volunteers. There are more than 2,300 long-term beds in the 10-county area and our goal is to visit each and every person as many times as possible,” said district ombudsman Teresa Whitaker. “We work to ensure the rights of residents are not being violated, they are being treated with dignity and respect, they are not being abused, neglected, exploited, and to assist with improving their quality of life whenever possible.”

The program has been looking for a unique fundraiser that could raise awareness for a while, Whitaker said.

“Our primary goal is to provide the public with information regarding the ombudsman program and the services we offer to residents living in a long-term care facility and their families in the 10-county area,” she said. “If we can raise funds while doing that, then it’s a win-win situation for us.”

The group hopes to raise at least $2,000, Whitaker said.

“This is our first year doing this, and the public is not familiar with this type of event,” she said. “We hope the success of this year’s event and word of mouth will help us increase community participation and our fundraising goal for next year.”

Whitaker hopes the fundraiser will help close the gap left by the 47 percent budget cut the ombudsman program received for the 2009-10 fiscal year.

“The ombudsman program receives funding from various sources,” she said. “This fundraiser will help to replenish those lost funds and help us to continue to advocate on behalf of the resident while maintaining the program at the level we can be most effective.”

— For more information, call 991-2561, e-mail Lee.Brown@wku.edu or visit www.klaid.org/ombudsman.

Participating homes will be marked with a fish balloon.

Roberta Grimes

10481 Cemetery Road

Fishey Business

1415 Campbell Lane

Jim Skaggs

1234 State St.

Teresa Cripps

5180 Mount Olivet Road

Jeff Corder

360 W. McClellan Road

Steve Spencer

869 Hunts Lane

Leroy Sparks

321 Timber Lane