Every day when Marianne McDowell drives home from work at a Sellwood senior living center, she passes a strip club. Recently, the club was putting on a bikini car wash. That's when McDowell -- the life enrichment coordinator at Emeritus at Sellwood -- got an idea.





Norma Lichty held a sign outside her senior living center in Sellwood, promising a senior bikini car wash. Aside from the ones screen-printed to T-shirts, there were no bikinis.

"How fun would that be?” she thought. They'd already done bingo, a spaghetti dinner and a yard sale.

She brought the idea to the senior ladies at her work, who are raising money for the Alzheimer's Foundation of America’s

. On Friday, white-haired Norma Lichty -- in her tropical-print visor and sunglasses (and a practical long-sleeve shirt and beachy pants, by the way) -- set her walker up outside the center on 17th Avenue and held a big sign: Senior bikini car wash.

It didn’t take long until people driving in the neighborhood swerved about, trying to balance their steering wheels while clicking photos -- their smartphones dangling out the car windows.

Some people popped in to see -- but, there wasn't a string bikini to be found.

“A couple ladies painted bikinis on their T-shirts and they told me, ‘this is as good as it is going to get,’” McDowell said.

The seniors raised $550 in six hours.

“A lot of people stopped, honked, took pictures, donated and didn’t even get a car wash,” McDowell said. “They were happy for the laugh. That sign brightened everyone’s day.”

--Heather Steeves