SENIOR CENTER NEWS RELEASE

As most of you know, we had to close our Center on Oct. 29. Within about aweek’s time — we had five staff members who tested positive for COVID-19 including Carolyn Johnson, our Director and Royce Turner, President of our Board of Directors. With only two employees remaining todothework— it just simplywasn’t enough to keep the center operating.

We did everything we could to keep this from happening: we even hired a person to come in on the weekends to sanitize the building and we had the entire center sprayed every 14 days to add further sanitizing. We encouraged masks and gloves. We had them available for everyone. We also provided hand sanitizer and we took temperatures for everyone who entered the building. We also practiced social distancing. But some things are simply out of our control, no matter how hard we try to prevent them. We thought itwas in the best interest of everyone to close before our members and remaining staff were affected.

Our Board of Directorsmet lastMonday and voted tokeep the center closed until our members and staff receive the various vaccines

that will hopefully be coming our real soon. We can’t give you an exact date, but we will keep you informed.

Turkey dinner a success

The Board and Staff at the Bailey County Senior Center would like to thank everyone who came out and participated in our recent Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner. It was a great success with some 500 meals served. Thanks to everyone who purchased tickets at a time when we truly needed your support.

A big thank you, too, to all staff, volunteers, and board members who worked diligently to make it a success. And a thank you to Earl Behrends who organized a group of volunteers fromthe Church of Christ on American Blvd. Without their help, the dinner would not have been possible. We do plan to reopen our center when possible. We will keep you informed.