Muskingum Co. Sheriff drops off “goodie bags” at local retirement homes

ZANESVILLE – The Sheriff’s Office prepared the bags which included mostly things like potato chips, cheese and crackers, candies, and juice boxes. Sheriff Matt Lutz felt like the visit also brought something the seniors hadn’t received in a while…. company.

“In today’s times, when everybody is cooped up and everybody is having a hard time with everything going on with COVID – 19, our folks in the assisted living and nursing homes; they have it a little bit worse because they’re not able to be around their families. They’re not able to get visitors so its pretty monotonous for them to be day in and day out so we thought about putting together a visit and then one of my employees and his wife kind of got behind the idea of taking them some goodie bags,” Lutz said.

The goodie bags were well received by the seniors and the Sheriff’s Office felt like it was much better to give the gifts than to receive.

“To see the seniors smile as they’re in the windows and they’re holding up signs for you, it was a really neat day. So, it was kind of fun and just to get out and see them and a couple of deputies took some signs just to let them know we were thinking about them and we want them to stay safe and to keep hunkered down and stay strong and hopefully this thing will be over fairly shortly,” Lutz said.

The Sheriff’s trip lasted from about 8:45 until noon and Lutz said they made stops at 13 different homes.