Nutrition centers reopen for meals
Jun. 8—Senior diners are returning to the Fort Gibson nutrition site.
After being closed since May 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fort Gibson nutrition site reopened June 1 for people 60 and older.
The meals are served from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Frank Gladd American Legion Post 20.
"It's just so they can get out of the house, so they're not cooped up," said Delores Fields, assistant director of SAC Nutrition, which operates the site through the Eastern Oklahoma Development District. EODD covers Adair, Cherokee, McIntosh, Muskogee, Okmulgee, Sequoyah, and Wagoner counties.
"They just need to call the day before and make reservations if they want to eat," Fields said. "If you already go there and called and made a reservation for today, then on their paperwork, where you sign in, it will have an R for reservations for tomorrow. You just circle that and they know to make reservations for you for tomorrow. If you haven't eaten there, you have to call the day ahead and make reservations."
On Monday, Joyce Hall said it's great to be back at the nutrition site.
"You get out of the house, and there's social contact," she said.
Fort Gibson Site Manager Erica Green said on Monday that 14 people have eaten onsite or by drive-thru.
"We're hoping that number goes up," she said.
Greene said about 40 people ate and played games, such as dominoes, at the site before the pandemic.
"And, as of right now, we're not having games yet. It's just kind of dine in," Green said.
Fields said people could resume playing games around the first of July.
"We're just trying to get in the groove for June," she said. "For this moment, they're just eating. I think the first of July, they're supposed to open back up full and play games, sit around and socialize."
SAC operates three nutrition sites in Muskogee County, Fields said. There also are two Muskogee sites at Rayfield Baptist Church (Muskogee Douglas Center), 602 Indianapolis St., and at Honor Heights Towers, 300 N. 40th St. There also are nutrition sites in Wagoner, Checotah, Eufaula, Gore and Vian, according to the EODD website.
If you go
WHAT: Fort Gibson Senior Nutrition Center.
WHEN: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays. Lunch served.
WHERE: Frank Gladd American Legion Post 20, 201 S.E. Railroad St.
RESERVATIONS: (918) 478-2097.
Other Muskogee County SAC Nutrition Sites
—Rayfield Baptist Church (Muskogee Douglas Center), 602 Indianapolis St., Muskogee. Reservations, (918) 683-7282.
—Honor Heights Towers, 300 N. 40th St, Muskogee. Reservations, (918) 687-5232.
