EATON — It was an afternoon of treats instead of tricks as the Preble County Council on Aging (PCCOA) hosted a Halloween Drive-Thru at the Senior Center on Thursday, Oct. 29.
Sponsored by Vancrest, the PCCOA welcomed seniors to drive through the barn at the Senior Center to collect goodie bags filled with Halloween treats.
The staff welcomed the seniors in costume, with outifts ranging from the Wicked Witch of the West to Wonder Woman.
“Every year, the center dresses up for Halloween anyway, so we thought, why don’t we make it on the Thursday so with our drive-thru we can all participate and still have fun?” PCCOA Senior Center Services Manager Stacey Fullmer said.
The PCCOA has been hosting drive-thru events every week since late July with an average of 50 cars coming through on Thursdays.
“Since we’re closed, we can’t have anybody come in the building, so we thought [that] we still want to have some fun. We started a Drive-Thru Thursday, which I got the idea from a facility in Richmond and they did a monthly drive thru. I said, ‘Why can’t we do it weekly?’ So, we’re doing it weekly,” Fullmer said. “We get sponsors every week that provide some type of a snack or prize or something fun for everybody to look forward to for the week to come. It gets us to see the people, which is what we miss the most.”
Fullmer said that one of the highlights of working at the senior center is seeing the seniors and being able to interact with them.
“Not being able to do that since the middle of March has really played into your mental state because it’s something you look forward to and one of the reasons why you enjoy working here,” she said. “Not being able to see them and participate and interact, it really throws your mood kind of down, but being able to see them every week, that helps bring it up.”
Vancrest provided the goodie bags for seniors and had representatives present to help hand them out.
Previous sponsors have included Crossroad Hospice, UnitedHealthcare, The Knolls of Oxford, Reid Health, Kimball Plumbing and Brookhaven.
Most of the goodies are food based, with past treats including cookies, brownies, candy, and even caramel apples.
“They’ve gotten little knickknacks like stress balls or bags, masks, alcohol wipes, sanitizer stuff,” Fullmer said. “Anything that’s helpful.”
Fullmer said that since they’ve started doing the drive-thru events, the response has been great.
“They love it,” she said. “We have several that come through and say this is the highlight of their week. That’s nice when you get to hear it.”
The Senior Center is currently closed to the general public. For more information, call the PCCOA at 937-456-4947 or visit www.prebleseniorcenter.org.
“We’re always looking for volunteers right now,” Fullmer said. “It’s kind of hard because of COVID-19 and all that, but any way you want to help us out, just give us a call and we’ll let you help.”
