GREAT FALLS — As Great Falls responds to coronavirus concerns, the Rescue Mission has responded to city-wide restrictions by taking preventative measures for the well-being of their residents, staff, and community.
Great Falls Rescue Mission Executive Director Jim McCormick said, leadership has taken care to follow CDC guidelines, encouraging distancing and implementing more cleaning within the facility.
“When you’re talking about 200 and some people you have to take every precaution you can. So, we’re cleaning the rooms. We’re cleaning the bathrooms. We’re cleaning everything we can clean to make sure that they’re not passing it around,” McCormick said.
Staff members also keep residents separated during mealtime by serving one family at a time.
“At lunch and dinner and breakfast we feed at family tables so the families stay together. And we ask the family to go through together,” McCormick said.
While the needs of the nearly 200 residents between the three facilities are a primary concern, McCormick said they’ve also made sure to safeguard their staff.
“Our employees, many of them, are staying at home. They’re sheltered in place because many of them have small children or they have health issues so we’re running on a skeleton crew so to speak,” McCormick said.
With less staff on hand, donations are extremely helpful.
McCormick said food and monetary donations will help keep the rescue mission stocked should the city remain on lock-down for an extended period of time.
Although many organizations have closed due to coronavirus concerns, the Great Falls Rescue Mission is still accepting residents.
“We'll take folks in if they’re wanting to stay a long time or just do an overnight thing,” McCormick said.
However, incoming residents must go through screening to ensure that the facilities stay safe for their current residents.
“We still take people in, but we do have questionnaires. We take their temperature before they come in the building. If they show any signs we have to ask them to go to the Alluvion clinic and be tested that way,” McCormick said.
For those who wish to reside on their own, but are in need of food at this time, they can visit the Great Falls Rescue Mission Men’s Shelter at 326 2nd Ave South any day of the week to pick up a meal to-go. Lunch distributions are at 12:15 p.m. and dinner is distributed at 6:30 p.m.
If you’d like to donate to the Great Falls Rescue Mission, here’s a list of needed items:
- cold meats
- bread
- cheese
- bottled water
- jugs of water
- canned goods
- frozen meat
- fresh fruit
- fresh vegetables
- paper towels
- toilet paper
You can also give monetary donations here.
