'Get Out And Move' - Senior Boot Camp Returns To Rockland

ROCKLAND COUNTY, NY — Senior Boot Camp, one of Rockland County's most popular events (and fundraisers) for older residents returns triumphantly Thursday after a four-year hiatus.

"We felt it was time to get it going," Meals on Wheels Rockland President and CEO Kevin Hardy told Patch.

It may come as a suprise, but Meals on Wheels Rockland is far more than volunteers taking food to folks who are unable to shop and cook for themselves.

"In all cases the most important part is not just the meal, it’s the connection," Hardy said. "When we deliver a meal that may be the only human contact that person has in the course of the day."

Combating isolation is a top priority for Meals on Wheels, which manages the senior activity center program for Rockland County.

And that means more than just gathering places.

"The seniors generally love the centers, but they love to go out, they love to do trips, they love to do events," Hardy said.

Meals on Wheels does several events during the year that give people from all its senior centers a chance to get together, including a summer picnic. And Boot Camp.

"Boot Camp is an exciting event where older adults come together and we focus on movement," Amy Bianco, Meals On Wheels Rockland's director of operations, told Patch. The event also always includes many vendors and agencies with opportunities for health assessments and information.

It is making its post-pandemic return in a new location — Dominican University in Blauvelt, NY.

That's going to be a big change because the college has a large physical therapy undergraduate and graduate program, and students from the program will be there and involved, Bianco said. "I think the older adults appreciate that engagement. They love that connection. That’s an exciting change."

The seniors will be participating in 10 events from cup stacking to a good old-fashioned shell game. Many of the seniors sign up sponsors and contribute the money to Meals on Wheels.

An all-Senior musical group, The Music Makers, will perform. There are 28 vendors participating, with services related to senior needs.

In the old days (pre-COVID) the event drew about 100 people annually, and at least that many are expected this year. Most attend one of the four senior activity centers that Meals on Wheels Rockland runs for the county in Nanuet, Nyack, Orangetown and Ramapo.

The boot camp event wasn't the only thing stopped because of COVID. The five senior activity centers program run by Meals on Wheels on behalf of the county with county, state and federal funding, shut down and have only gradually been reopening.

"When we first opened the Clarkstown center in May 2021, there were a lot of seniors that did not want to come back. They were very cautious, though there was a certain percentage of people even during that time who wanted centers back open," Hardy said.

The fourth center just went operational — a new one, in a temporary location in Orangetown. It had a soft open last month.

"Orangetown has been asking for a center for years we finally got the approval to get it up and running," Hardy said. Its popularity is undeniable — it's routinely hosting 35 people when the closest one pre-COVID saw about 20.

"As a result of the isolation, people want to socialize, they understand the value of it, there’s more of an interest," he said. "They want more things to do."

Meals on Wheels Rockland is looking for a fifth location in the northern tip of the county, preferably in Haverstraw.

Now open:

Clarkstown/Pearl River Senior Activity Center
121 West Nyack Road
Nanuet, New York 10954
(845) 624-6334

Nyack Senior Activity Center
90 Depew Avenue
Nyack, New York 10960
(845) 353-1311

Orangetown Senior Activity Center
Tappan Reformed Church
35 Kings Highway
Tappan, NY 10983
(845) 580-2292

Ramapo Senior Activity Center
Murchison Hall at New Hempstead Presbyterian Church
484 New Hempstead Road
New City, NY 10956
(845) 356-2244

Hardy and Bianco thanked the event's Platinum and Gold Sponsors, Jessica Kiely, PC, Estate Planning & Elder Law, The Esplanade at Palisades, Emerald Medicare, WellCare of New York Inc., Montefiore Nyack and The Willows at Ramapo Rehabilitation & Nursing Center, for making it possible.