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Home News Dropping golf balls and strolling in the sun: Mont. St. Joe celebrates Grandparents Day

Dropping golf balls and strolling in the sun: Mont. St. Joe celebrates Grandparents Day

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Dropping golf balls and strolling in the sun: Mont. St. Joe celebrates Grandparents Day
Mont. St. Joseph resident Josie Leduc (seated) goes for a walk with her family, including two great-grand daughters, during the Mont. St. Joe Grandparents Day Stroll. -- Jason Kerr/Daily Herald

The Mont. St. Joseph Home’s annual Grandparents Day Stroll was back and in-person for the first time since the start of COVID on Sunday, and it can’t come a moment too soon for organizers.

Spectators were also on hand to witness the Prince Albert Fire Department drop 2,000 golf balls from the top of a fire truck as part of a second fundraiser. While organizers are grateful to see the financial support, having people show up in person to be with residents made it even more special.

“This is such a wonderful event every year,” Mont St. Joseph Home Foundation CEO Wayne Nogier said. “Just getting our families and our residents involved, and having the interaction that we haven’t been able to have for about two years now, is just a wonderful way for us to finish the summer.”

Nogier said they try to maintain strong connections with residents and their families, but that’s been difficult during the last two years. He said face-to-face contact is vital to providing and receiving good care.

While the organization still have a few precautions in place Sunday afternoon, they are on their way to returning to normal. Nogier said it can’t come soon enough.

“Today, it wasn’t as grand an event as we would have hoped to have been able to have our families participate in,” he explained. “We would have loved to have all of them come in the building and have a lunch that’s involved with that, but having people in a confined space indoors with masks off, we’re just not quite there yet.

“Our families are participating properly with us. They’re understanding and accepting. We’re just excited that they came today and spent some time with us.”

The Mont St. Joseph Foundation had two major fundraisers scheduled for Sunday. The first was the golf ball drop, won by David Bowers, Tyler Jones, and Carole Rucks. The ball drop raises money to replace building’s the old wash tubs.

The other was the annual Grandparents Day Stroll. Nogier said they’re using it to raise funds for new furnishings.

“They (the tubs) are quite expensive and they need continual updating,” he explained. “It’s been about 25 years since this building was built that these tubs have been in place, so we’re needing to do that.

“We’ve recognized lots of things that COVID has done, but the enhanced cleaning that we’ve had to do over the last two years has been incredibly hard on our furnishings,” he added. “It’s time to start replacing some of those as well.”

Final fundraising totals were unavailable by press time.