TUSTIN : Dinner Nets $30,000 to Aid Ailing Child

An Italian dinner and dance raised about $30,000 to help Jason Peery, the 20-month-old Tustin boy who was born with a rare heart problem and needs money for medical expenses.

“It was beyond our wildest expectations and hopes,” said Police Sgt. Mike Shanahan, one of the event’s organizers. The goal had been $20,000 to help Jason’s parents--Police Sgt. Jim Perry and his wife, Donna--pay for physical therapy and necessary equipment for Jason.

Jason has spent about half his life in the hospital and has undergone several major surgeries. After a high heart rate and lack of oxygen during one of the surgeries last spring left him blind and with brain damage, Jason needed regular physical therapy. Although the medical bills were covered by the family’s insurance, the therapy is not.

“It was phenomenal,” said Donna Peery of the community’s generosity.

“Everybody was really responsive. Everybody was so emotional, too, that it was really touching. It was kind of hard to keep from falling apart.”

Organizers Shanahan and Luciana Principato, Jim Peery’s longtime barber, had expected about 200 people and a total of $20,000. But more than 290 people showed up for the dinner.

“We had to set up more tables,” said Shanahan, adding that Police Department employees and their spouses waited on tables. “We had so many people that we were busing the plates, cleaning them and then taking them right back out again.”