The Multi-Service continues to meet the needs of the community in modified ways to protect the health and safety of volunteers and families amid the coronavirus pandemic. “The community has been so supportive during this time. The collaboration between agencies, organizations, businesses, restaurants, schools and churches has been absolutely amazing to experience,” said Lydia Messinger, executive director of Boyertown Area Multi-Service Inc. “We truly have an incredible, compassionate community that always comes together to support each other. The donations of food, produce, and volunteer hours have been such a blessing to our community during this time of need. In addition to meals and support, the smiles and cheer being shared with the community is positive, and much needed during this time.” To protect all staff, volunteers and the community, the Multi-Service is offering its services in a modified format, based on recommendations from partner agencies on the county and state level. Volunteers, staff and board members have been working around the clock to make sure they are able to meet the needs of the community, said Messinger. Looking back at the week of March 16-21, Messinger explained how the Multi-Service continued to serve the growing need of the community during this time. “For Meals on Wheels, over 600 meals were prepared this week by our amazing team in the kitchen and delivered by dedicated volunteers to homebound elderly. In addition, Executive Chef Chris and Sous Chef Karen worked with volunteers to pack and deliver 5 days’ worth of shelf stable food to every single Meals on Wheels recipient, making sure our most vulnerable community members are served,” she said.

The Center of Spring Street members were served hot to-go meals instead of being served lunch inside in a large group. “More than 300 hot meals were prepared and provided to-go, distributed in a drive-thru manner in our parking lot, even in the rain!” said Messinger. All drive-thru meal recipients were also provided with fresh produce, bags of shelf stable food, and notes of encouragement with inclusions of trivia, puzzles, and brain teasers. “The meals, especially the St. Patrick’s Day meal and the 45th Anniversary meal, brought so much uplifting cheer. The words of thanks and appreciation from the seniors in the drive-thru were incredible to hear!”

Reservations are required for this program, call 610-367-6957 for more information and to register for meals. In addition to the food and produce distributed to seniors with the lunch time to-go meals, Preston’s Pantry served 67 adults and 45 children in a modified drive-thru manner, providing them with shelf stable and frozen foods, an abundance of fresh produce, eggs, and dairy, pet food, formula, baby food, diapers, and personal care items. “A whopping 5,008 pounds of pantry items were distributed to these families and individuals!” Pantry access is by private appointment, call 610-367-6957 if you are in need of food pantry access.

Case management was also modified. Services are being provided over the phone, rather than in person during this time. Call 610-367-6957 to schedule an appointment. “The Case Management team fielded calls from community members who are stressed, worried, and experiencing challenges.” A list of available help and resources is being compiled on the Multi-Service website to serve as support for the entire community. The community also can reach out to help Multi-Service. “Because our traditional revenue streams are being significantly impacted by this pandemic, our greatest need is monetary contributions to allow us to continue to serve our community,” said Messinger.

If you or someone you know is in need of food assistance, call 610-367-6957. Boyertown Area Multi-Service is open Monday through Friday. The building is closed to the public at this time. For more information, call or email LMessinger@BoyertownAreaMulti-Service.org. Boyertown Area Multi-Service is a social service agency dedicated to meeting needs and improving the lives of people in the Boyertown School District Area and surrounding communities of Amity, District, Hereford, Pike and Oley townships.

Source: https://www.berksmontnews.com/

FEEDING THE COMMUNITY

“This was a response to our clients who specifically came to the Center for a freshly made meal. Since we could not feed them inside, we package them to go and clients drive up, are met by a team member, and are given their meal,” said Stein. “We have received great feedback on this approach and we are discussing how best to keep this in place going forward for those who may yet be reticent to come into the Center for a meal when we are allowed to do so.” For Meals on Wheels, more than 200 diet-specific meals, such as low sodium and diabetic, continue to be cooked, packaged and delivered daily by a team of volunteers under the direction of the Multi-Service chef and his team. The Center’s total food distribution has risen more than 300 percent at this point and is climbing, he said. For Preston’s Community Food Pantry, prepacked food boxes for singles, aged persons and families are brought out to cars versus people entering the center as they previously did. Specific food needs, such as dietary requests, are met as best as possible based on current food stock. “While general food donations have historically met the needs in this community, and even with our donations up more than 500 percent over last year, we have had to recently purchase food directly to keep up with the current needs,” said Stein. The Multi-Service Case Management team has continued to assist those in financial need which has seen an uptick, he said. “These meetings are sometimes held in the food distribution line so that a client can remain outside of the building, pick up food, and check in with a case manager all at once.” Stein noted that the Berks County Office of Aging Services approved the Senior Center reopening plan before the Center offered any events, outdoors or indoors, and is aware of all that the Center currently offers to the public. Transportation to medical appointments also continues.

SOCIAL EVENTS FOR BETTER HEALTH

Social events are mostly held outside on the property at the Senior Center or in an online format. The Senior Center is now open to a limited number of registered participants to enter at a time for social events indoors. “The pandemic has shown that while the social services we offer are even more vital than ever, our social events are just as important to our clients,” said Stein. “Socialization is a vital part of any community and the pandemic has taken away much of it, especially for the aged population. This lack of interaction negatively impacts the overall mental wellness of our clients, so hosting these social events is also about responding directly to the healthcare needs of our clients. We will continue to host events as long as we can do so safely and maintain compliance with all relevant health agencies and guidelines.” Social events include socially distanced indoor bingo, Walking Bingo at Boyertown Park, parking lot Bingo, and Wake Up with Center Staff, as well as Zoom yoga and dance classes. “Parking lot bingo — honk if you have BINGO! They love this one and we may want to keep it outdoors,” said Stein. “Wake up with Center Staff, we supply donuts, they bring coffee and a chair, and the Center staff sits outside with them for some morning conversation and socialization for the early risers.” The “It’s 5 O’clock Somewhere” social hour is held outdoors and includes food, games and bringyour-favorite-beverage. “It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere — bring your favorite adult beverage (just one!) and some lawn chairs and let’s hang out. We also provide non-alcoholic beverages and pizza. We distribute the food utilizing proper food handling precautions that pre-date COVID,” he said. “Ice Cream socials are pretty straightforward but we mixed it up recently by having an ice cream truck come by the dispensary.” And the response to these new events is positive.

“The response has been amazing to our social events and the participants continue to encourage us to offer more opportunities for people to see one another,” said Stein. “Our events do have participant limitations.”

Registration is required to maintain health department guidelines. Most outdoor events at the Senior Center have up to 75 participants, which are capped due to social distancing guidelines and the ability to maintain proximity to the Center. Additionally, there is a waiting list of more than 30 for outdoor events. If someone is on a waiting list for one event, the Center tries to make sure they are brought to the head of the list for the next event. “Some are a little frustrated with indoor occupancy restrictions and limited time slots for indoor activities, but those time slots and occupancy are limited due to spacing tables and chairs out to comply with all health guidelines,” he said. “Our Center occupancy is additionally limited at this time because our Food Pantry storage has spilled out of the normal storage locations and now occupies half of the Center itself.” The outdoor and online events will continue to be held at the Senior Center. “Indoor events have just opened up and events will be added or increased if we can do so and maintain compliance with all relevant guidelines. The outdoor events, which we did not historically hold, have proven to be the most popular at this time,” he said. “Some of our indoor options (Exercise Room, Quilting Room, Activity Room) will also be added back on to the calendar in a limited fashion on a first come-first served basis with registrations being taken.”

THE RICKETS  CENTER

The Ricketts Center in Pottstown, which is now a part of Multi-Service, is starting open classroom hours to support the virtual classroom model for Pottstown Schools. “Students will bring their school-supplied laptop, we provide the space, lunch, and adult tutors to assist,” said Stein. Registration is required as space is limited due to health guideline compliance issues. Ricketts has also been a food distribution point for daily lunches to community youth and ‘family bags’ of food distributed weekly as well to families in the surrounding neighborhoods. Online exercise classes and outdoor sports activities such as soccer clinics have continued at Ricketts as well for youth.

“The Ricketts Community Center, which only hosted events for approximately one month prior to the shutdown, was seeing upwards of 70 youth at that time for participation in events. COVID has dropped that on-site interaction to much less but the food distribution has multiplied to up to 800 meals weekly between individual youth meals and weekly family food bags,” he said. Ricketts online events will continue as is and on-site events are slowing being added. The virtual school classes will increase on-site services to daily from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Source: https://www.berksmontnews.com/

Council President, Dan Weand, Vice President Carol Kulp and Council members Donald Lebedynsky and Ryan Procsal voted in favor, while Council members Trenita Lindsay and Joseph Kirkland were opposed. Council member Rita Paez abstained.

Lindsey and Kirkland wanted the borough Parks and Recreation department to be selected.

Lindsay said that she “had faith in the borough’s ability to do the job.”

Kirkland said that in his district, “it was clear that the community wanted the borough to run the center.”

In supporting the Boyertown Multi-Services proposal, Weand said that if the Pottstown Rec Department ran the center the borough would incur additional expenses.

“Our preliminary budget shows the need for a 4.5% tax increase,” Weand said. “We’ll have to raise taxes even more if Pottstown takes on the center.”

Procsal said that the Boyertown proposal “delivered all the needed services plus it provides financial help as well.” He added that the Parks and Rec department could also offer programs at the center and would learn how to run it if the borough does not want to continue with Boyertown Multi-Service when the two-year contract expires.

In addition to Boyertown Multi-Service and the Pottstown Parks and Recreation department, CCLU (Centro Cultural Latinos Unidos), STRIVE of Pottstown, and the Tri-County YWCA of Pottstown submitted proposals.

The council also:

– Adopted a resolution authorizing application to the PECO Green Region Open Space Program for the Steel River Station in Memorial Park Connectivity Project, in the amount of $10,000. If the application is granted, the Colebrookdale Railroad Preservation Trust commits to the expenditure of $10,000 matching funds.

– Adopted a resolution amending water rates for the borough as recommended by the Pottstown Borough Authority.

– Adopted a resolution for a legislative body relating to a money purchase retirement plan to be invested in Vantage Trust and administered by ICMA Retirement Corporation.

– Awarded the 2020 Chemical Bids as per the bid tabulations of Sept. 17 to Coyne for five years for sodium bisulfate, activated carbon and sulfuric acid; and aluminum sulfate for 1 year to Thatcher.

– Approved a three-year professional services agreement between Hough Associates and the borough to collect the 2019, 2020 and 2021 recycling data and prepare PA DEP 904 recycling grant applications at a fixed price of $8,000 per year.

– Ratified the mayor’s disciplinary action of suspending a police officer without pay.

– Granted the request of the Victory Christian Life Church to hold a Light the Night event on Oct. 31, resulting in the closing of Washington Street between King Street and Buttonwood Alley, from 4 p.m. – 9 p.m.

– Granted the request of Janet Freedline to hold a Halloween Trick or Treat night on Oct. 31, resulting in the closing of Franklin Street, between Diamond and Wilson streets, from 5:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

– Granted the request of Tiburon Endurance Sports to hold its Fox Trot 5K event on May 16, 2020, resulting in the closing of the Circle of Progress and Glasgow Street from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., and to utilize borough owned property for event parking.

– Approved a Certificate of Appropriateness for the property located at 912 E. High St. as recommended by HARB (Historical Architectural Review Board).

– Ratified the action of the building permit officer approving a Certificate of Appropriateness for the following properties: 100 North Hanover Street; 344 King St.; 121 King St.; 107 King St.; and 990 E. High St.

– Denied a certificate of appropriateness for the property located at 940 E. High St. as recommended by HARB.

Source: https://www.wfmz.com/