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Some Area Senior Centers Reopening, Others Unable To

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As Michigan gets back to normal with more people vaccinated, senior centers are considering how best to reach out to a population that’s been isolated for the past 15 months.

“We’re just delighted to be open again and welcoming people,” said Scottville Area Senior Center Director Bill Kerans. “We were getting phone calls, ‘When are you going to open?’.”

The Scottville Area Senior Center reopened in early May. Over the past year and a half, Kerans says it was tough having the doors closed to their center.

“While we were closed, we were doing a lot of outreach to people,” he said. “We were calling people every day to check on them, see how they were doing. We were giving out food boxes that people could stop by and pick up.”

The center has been slowly adding more of their normal in-person activities back, like quilting, lunch meals, and Wii bowling.

“People have told us that it means the world to them to be able to come here and to interact with their friends again,” said Kerans.

The staff is still going to be cautious, keeping activities like playing cards on the backburner.

“We’re holding off on that for just a little while longer until we feel like everything is as safe as it can possibly be,” said Kerans.

On the other hand, the Manton Senior Center wishes to reopen, but is unable to.

“We are down to one cook and we need two because we prepare our meals here on site,” said Jo Moss, President of the Manton Senior Center Board of Directors.

They’re also looking for an activity director and to replace appliances in their kitchen, and funds are tight.

“Probably the first of July we could maybe open for no meals, some activities,” said Moss. “But when we do open, it’s going to have to be a slow process. Our freezer and cooler went out, and we lost everything in the food process. It would take a few weeks to get supplies going.”

Regardless, the Manton Senior Center is looking forward to the day when they can reopen, eventually.

“We just don’t know, and we can’t give them any answers,” said Moss. “I’m sure hopefully we’ll be up and running by August, providing that we can get a cook.”

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