HOWELL – The staff at the Howell Senior Center have been endlessly working hard to provide their seniors with basic necessities throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the center closed to the public, many seniors have nowhere to go and no way to get groceries.
“Since March of last year, we had to close to the public. With that being said we had so many people that count on coming here three to five days a week. They would have lunch here whether they brought their own or had a congregate lunch. This is their main meal, this is who they eat with and this is a home away from home, a family for them with their friends here as well as the staff,” Melanie Decker, Director of Senior Services, said. “We did a lot of different activities and some social service type things as well. For that to stop overnight, we came in on March 13 and that was it that was our last day.”
For almost a year now, the staff at the Howell Senior Center have been working and creating ways they can interact with their seniors safely. Many of them do not have a smart phone or computer, which made it difficult when ordering food or wanting to talk to loved ones.
“Many of our members live alone and they don’t have anyone. They don’t use the computer or they don’t know how to or they don’t have one or maybe they don’t have a smart phone. So, doing things like FaceTime and Zoom is not an option for them. Virtual programs for a lot of our members are not an option,” Decker said. “We knew that and we needed to hurry up and decide what are we going to do for seniors – how are we going to stay in contact with them how are we going to meet their needs.”
For many seniors they relied on the center’s services, grocery shopping assistance being a main one. Since the pandemic started many no longer had access to these services and were afraid to go to the store because of the virus.
“We would pick them up and take them food shopping then drive them home. Now they have no way of going food shopping or those who did have a way to go they were scared to go out to the stores because you shouldn’t,” Decker said. “Ordering food and at home delivery wasn’t an option for them because you have to order it online so that was an obstacle.”
Although faced with many challenges, the staff at the Howell Senior Center created ways they can help and make sure their seniors are given the support they need.
“We always have a food pantry here all the time and we ended up doing food shopping, seeing what the general needs were so we weren’t just doing cans and boxes of food. People will call and give us their orders, things of that they need and if we had it, we gave it to them and then we would drop it off to the door,” Decker said. “They would give us a donation and their donation would help us continue to get more food.”
Many businesses also donated food or money to the center. Once the center figured out how they could supply food to their members, their next challenge was taking care of the senior’s social and emotional needs.
“Besides wellness calls we would put different cards in with the groceries, pictures that different groups drew, activity books and magazines, things to keep them busy. Once the warmer weather hit, we were making sure to go out and do friendly visits being outside with our members besides the phone calls,” Decker said.
Every month, the staff would drop off items like a box of Girl Scout cookies or little goodie bags and more. Many from the community joined to help and donated to the center. This Valentine’s day, the Howell Women’s Club donated six dozen boxes of chocolate hearts for the members at the center
“A lot of community involvement. People collecting stuff so we can make up different goodie bags. We’ve made care kits they have a brand-new mask, hand sanitizer, Chapstick, lotion and even razors,” Decker said.
Although the center is not open to the public still, the staff are making sure to make an appointment to go to a member’s house.
“Honestly you name it we’re doing it for them,” Decker said. “Again, it’s with help from the great community. We know that the things we’re doing here is more than any other senior center. Most senior centers are just doing a wellness call but if you need anything, they aren’t able to help you with that.”
Decker explains that not only the support from the community has helped keep the center going, but her staff has worked endlessly to help their members.
“I have a tremendous staff, they’re wonderful and everyone’s on the same page. We look at the same goals. Everybody wants to accomplish stuff and do well and do right by the seniors. Everybody thinks, ‘well I’m going to need help one day’ and hopefully there’ll be people like us to help me out,” Decker said. “Some people aren’t even members with us. We’ve just learned about them through the pandemic and we help those people too. If you’re a senior in Howell, we’ll help with the services.”
The Howell Senior Center is always looking for donations to support the seniors in the community. Decker says anyone interested in donating can donate items such as food that’s not expired, toiletries, cleaning products and pet food. You can also make a monetary donation by check and sending it to the Howell Senior Center at 251 Preventorium Rd. in Howell.
“Money donations would be used for the same things like masks, goodie bags and making care kits,” Decker said. “Whatever they donate we will find it a home. Nothing goes to waste.”
