By Chris Joyce
HO HO HO!!! Wow, it’s almost the end of 2020 and boy has this been one crazy year! Unfortunately, we had to cancel our annual Senior Christmas Luncheon. But the good news is that the Rec. Committee has generously offered to make up some “extra” special Christmas Fruit Baskets for the PIB Seniors this year. They will be available for pickup on Sunday, December 6th, at the PIB Fire Department, from 1 to 3 p.m. Just pull up and they will put the basket in your vehicle for you.
At the time of this writing, we’re still not sure when the Senior Center will reopen. As most of you know, the Ottawa County Commissioners signed a resolution in October to keep the senior centers closed until further notice due to the ongoing pandemic. The mandates and guidelines for the re-opening of the senior centers are still being fine-tuned and I would like to reiterate that when we do reopen, it will be different than in the past, but we will make it through. I will be calling you to see if you are interested in coming back to the center. Due to guidelines set forth by the Ohio Department of Aging and the Ohio Department of Health, we will need reservations and pre-screening of all participants completed prior to all visits. This will be done by a phone call prior to the activity, and then a health survey upon entering the Senior Center. In addition, all Ohio Senior Centers must have their staff and volunteers tested for Covid-19 prior to reopening and then every two weeks ongoing. We must also have a program in place for strategic testing of participants. During the initial phase of reopening masks will be required for all participants, no exceptions. We will all have to be patient and work together to facilitate a smooth transition to a new way of using the Senior Center while following the mandated guidelines. While these guidelines might be overwhelming for many of us, they are set up to protect all of us. We are looking forward to the day when we can return to normal, but as we work toward that end, we want to make sure everyone is safe and gets to join in.
So, with social distancing, masks on our faces and sanitizer on our hands, we will hopefully be ready to once again exercise and socialize with our friends when we get the ok.
My wish is for everyone to relax and enjoy the Christmas Holidays. Stay safe, I sure miss everyone and hope to see you all soon!
The previous piece is published in this month’s Put-in-Bay Gazette. The Gazette has been producing incredible independent Put-in-Bay island news for over 40 years. If you have any interest at all in what is happening on South Bass Island, we urge you strongly to subscribe to the Put-in-Bay Gazette. One-year online subscriptions are only $15, and print subscriptions are available as well. To subscribe please click here.
This piece of Put-in-Bay journalism has been provided to putinbaycondos.com courtesy of the Put-in-Bay Gazette, Put-in-Bay’s only local newspaper. Visit their website putinbay.news for more information and to subscribe!
