Published March 4, 2021

Nine of the town’s department heads presented an overview of their Fiscal Year 2022 budgets at a virtual joint meeting of the Select Board and Finance Committee Monday night, as the process of evaluating and refining each department’s spending plan has begun. This process will continue throughout March and April, and the overall town budget will be presented to the voters at the annual Town Meeting on June 5.

While all of Monday’s presentations were informative, as Director of Elder Services Mary Prenney read her narrative below, it poignantly revealed the human toll of how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every facet of our lives – regardless of age or circumstance – such that we feel it should be read in its entirety. The total budget request for Elder Services is $196,240 — an increase of $12,737 over last year.

As you can see I am asking for a status quo budget same as 2021. Only exception is again this year I am asking that our Outreach Assistant hours be increased permanently to a full-time 35-hour a week position. This would be an increase of 10 hours; 15 hours paid by the state formula grant and 20 hours paid by the town.

I wish I had that crystal ball and could foresee when opening the Senior Center to programming would be safe for the staff and the public. Hopefully with progress being made with vaccines we can open sooner than later.

It will be one year next Tuesday when I received a phone call at 4:20 p.m. from (Town Administrator) Mike Gilleberto asking me to come to the police station now for a meeting…after a gasp, he immediately said it “wasn’t personal.” But it was…At that time I was told “WE” – the Senior Center – was closed immediately.

You can imagine how heartbreaking it was for myself, staff and anyone who came to the Senior Center. Our job at the Center is to promote socialization and well-being and belonging. A place to learn new things and share things, share hugs, kindness, laughter and sympathy when needed. Recently we have brought into the building many flowering plants just for the sense of new life.

I was in our building working every day in the past year, even if just for a few hours a day to take phone calls and answer emails, especially in the first few months of the pandemic. Staff worked remotely at home during the beginning months but always managed to take phone calls and answer emails, and we constantly communicated with each other.

The month of April was most difficult. As I looked out my office window to the North on Haverhill Street – usually a very busy street – there was no traffic. Out of the West window there we no children in the playground or teachers’ cars parked at the Batchelder School. But I think the saddest part was out the East window. Looking at Croswell’s Funeral Home, only one or two cars were parked to attend loved one’s funerals…John Croswell told me that last April was the busiest, and saddest, month ever during his many years in business.

In saying all that, we at the Center spent most of our days the past year on outreach. In the beginning we sent out a short newsletter to 2,300 homes reminding people that they were not alone plus information on how to stay safe. In June we did a door-to-door visit to 1,200 individual households of residents over 70 and passed out packages of masks along with informational bookmarks. We’ve made 900 “robo calls” at three various times reminding people that although the Senior Center is closed to the public we, as a Department, remained open and here to help.

Just recently we sent vaccine information to over 2,300 residents. We made hundreds of repeat phone calls to residents checking on their well-being, plus we sent hundreds of cards – thinking of you cards, birthday cards, Christmas cards, etc., and in return we got so many thank-you’s.

Until March of last year we provided 2,129 rides; 4,096 participants joined in various programs, and we able to offer 150 residents fuel and insurance (“SHINE”) tax services. This was all done in our one-room Senior Center in a building that is 192 years old! The staff handled approximately 8,000 intake calls in which people were helped internally or referred to an outside agency.

For Halloween, we (actually Sherri Greer with the DPW’s help) decorated the entire front of the building as a giant spider web, which the entire community got to appreciate, and also hosted a drive-by Halloween luncheon for 40 of our residents.

For Veterans’ Day, with the generosity of North Reading Little League, we hosted another drive-by luncheon for our veterans, with home deliveries for those who couldn’t make it.

For Thanksgiving, we helped organize with Representative Jones and Senator Tarr a drive-by Thanksgiving gift bag at the Hillview for 200 residents.

And this coming March 17th — St. Patrick’s Day — we will honor the tradition at the Edith A. O’Leary Senior Center for a drive-by corn beef and cabbage luncheon catered by the Horseshoe. (Thanks to a generous donor, this luncheon will be offered at half-price!)

In our partnership with Mystic Valley Elder Services (MVES), I am proud and honored to say that we served 1,920 congregate daily lunches and close to 11,000 home-delivered meals — all delivered by Bob Grady, our driver, without missing one day of delivering through all of the pandemic! And just an additional note to say some of those folks who came to the Senior Center every day who needed a hot lunch went on the home-delivered meals list.

In 2020, Mystic Valley continued to provide services valued at $2,106,655 (a 13% increase from last year) to North Reading residents and their families – which again shows the need to have a full-time outreach worker on staff. Even though their building was not open to the public, the amazing staff at Mystic Valley Elder Services worked remotely every day without missing intakes or disruption to services.

Since the beginning of February, when vaccines became available and the State advertised to everyone and every available website to call their “Councils on Aging and Senior Centers” and THEY – the Senior Centers – would help in getting the public an appointment for the vaccine – our phones have been off the wall. This announcement came without warning and no training (although it seems every agency that serves the elder community came late to the party with a video or a “how to” manual a few weeks later!).

To Sherri Greer, Sue Tilton, Jean Fitzgerald, and Marci Bailey and her secret army who volunteered to help navigate the ever-changing, very complicated state registration “Prepmod” system (without the help of the video and the 27-page “how-to” manual), I will be forever grateful for having them in my circle.

Without them and our local Board of Health and Health Department – Bob Bracey, Stephanie Connelly, Pam Vath and everyone on their team (kudos also to Gary Hunt, Karen Martin, Mary Samost and Donna Hovey) – the residents of North Reading wouldn’t be on their way to securing the vaccine and getting back to some sort of normalcy.

But the most amazing people have been our senior citizens! Their resiliency, understanding and patience have been, without a doubt, the most rewarding part, if any, of this horrid virus…they are the heroes!

Thank you…It’s been quite a year

Mary Prenney

Director of Elder Services