The Market Street Mission in Morristown relies on 1,600 volunteers to help serve meals and run its thrift store.
But the 132-year-old institution is giving its helpers a couple of weeks off, to ride out Omicron.
“We’re trying to minimize the community impact” of the virulent COVID-19 strain, said Scott Taylor, director of donor relations and development for the Mission.
The private nonprofit’s 30-member staff will hunker down and oversee the 60 or so men who are enrolled in substance recovery/transition programs or sleeping on the chapel floor. Overnight guests are isolated from the programs’ live-in clients, Taylor said.
Meals are being served at the door, instead of in the dining room, in hopes of further minimizing spread of the virus, he said. Breakfast starts at 6:15 am, dinner at 5:30 pm. Details on weekend meal times are here, or by calling 973-538-0431.
While Taylor could not confirm any COVID infections at the Mission, “we’re working under the assumption we have it, given the community we serve,” he told Morristown Green.
Omicron is more contagious but usually less potent than the Delta strain, and the Mission expects to “let it run its course,” said Taylor. He suspects he’s been hit harder by COVID than anyone else at the Mission–in 2020 he was hospitalized for 10 days.
When things got bad that year, the Mission quarantined some men in a Morris Plains home, Taylor said. The Mission’s top floor also has rooms where clients can be isolated if necessary, he said.
The Mission has experience along these lines. It survived the flu pandemic of 1889-1890, the Spanish Flu and the Asian Flu, among other health crises.
“Through it all, by God’s grace and with the support of compassionate donors, we have met the needs of our neighbors, providing meals to the hungry, shelter to the homeless and hope to all who come to our doors. The staff once again stands ready to help in the face of this latest COVID-19 variant known as Omicron,” the Mission said in a statement last week.
The Mission provides more than 110,000 meals and 30,000 nights of shelter annually, combating alcoholism, substance abuse, hunger, and homelessness from three locations in northern and central New Jersey.
“We will continue to provide meals, shelter, and spiritual and emotional support to anyone in need,” the statement pledged.
