HELENA — Rocky Mountain Development Council (RMDC) has begun reopening their in-person services. Many services were closed since March of 2020, due to the pandemic.
Ann Mackenzie is a regular around Rocky Mountain. Not only does she participate in activities, she also volunteers in Rocky’s dining center in Helena, a place that hasn’t opened in over a year. A place that not only offers meals, but also a social life.
“It's amazing how just seeing your face even when you had a mask on was much different than being in my house and seeing my four walls,” says Ann Mckenzie. “It was great, I thought it was the best thing ever when they opened."
RMDC officially opened all their dining centers in May 2021 and have continued adding back activities, as the pandemic comes to a close and more people are vaccinated.
As of June 18th, 2021, they offer line dancing, wood carving, and more. Precautions, including social distancing, are still in place but Rocky is confident they’ll have less restrictions by July.
“The masks are still required on our shuttle as it is a public transportation, but we hope to be open for all of our activities on July 1st,” says Rod Applegate, Senior Nutrition & Transportation Program Director for RMDC. “As we start getting more and more of our clients coming back, we're hoping to add back more of our tables to the congregate dining centers."
By July, Rocky will reopen the rest of their activities like the Parlor Room, but according to the folks here, there is much more excitement for Thursdays.
“One of things we do here that we all missed is they have a Thursday Cinnamon Roll,” says Mckenzie.
“One of the big popular items is our Cinnamon Roll Thursday, our Caramel Rolls. Those will begin July 1st as well,” smiles Applegate.
Rocky will still have their routes for Meals on Wheels but are looking for 15 more volunteers to help with distribution, now that staff have returned to normal operations in the dining center.
Let’s not forget about Bingo Nights. Rocky says that will also return. The first Bingo Night is July 7th, 2021.
