Shining Star Shannon

By Will Barrett - PRIME EDITOR

Born in Miles City, Montana and currently working as executive director of the Bozeman Senior Center, Shannon Bondy has been one of the main reasons the senior center’s doors have remained open the past two years. The pandemic has been an uncertain time for all, but Bondy and the volunteers and staff at the Bozeman Senior Center worked tirelessly to keep a level of normalcy for the patrons of the center. With the Prime Awards approaching, it is important to look back and recognize who helped us along the way. Bondy has worked in aging services her whole career, spanning back to 1999 when she graduated from Montana State University with a B.S. in health and human development. Initially after graduation, she started an internship with the Department of Health and Human Services and quickly realized that was not what she wanted to do. She graduated from Glasglow High School in 1989, and during that time she was working for a retirement home. She realized how much she loved hearing stories from the older generation, and after graduating from MSU in 1999, she began working as a program manager at the Bozeman Senior Center. She would work in various positions between there, the Belgrade Senior Center and Spring Meadows assisted living before cementing herself as the executive director at Bozeman Senior Center seven years ago. When the pandemic started, Bondy didn’t expect to be closed too long. A few weeks or so at worst, she thought. They were eventually closed for over four hundred days, and it was up to Bondy, the staff and volunteers to keep things up and running. “If we hadn’t had our volunteers, I don’t know how we would have stayed open,” says Bondy. They also got creative and partnered with Montana Ale Works, to more efficiently use their inventory, and better distribute it to the meals on wheels recipients. She was extremely grateful for their help, “The community at large was very generous.” At one point there were three people in the kitchen making around two hundred meals. Even a few of the senior center’s board members stepped in to help the kitchen and lend a hand wherever it was needed. Both Bondy and Kristi Wetsch, the center’s receptionist, took on many new roles and responsibilities to make ends meet. Their biggest priority was making sure all the meals on wheels were made for the many folks in town who relied on them. They took many precautions to make sure their patrons were safe, and they organized for the meals to be picked up daily. Wetsch was also tasked with moving the 2nd Hand Rose thrift store from the basement to a room upstairs so they could continue to operate the store while the rest of the center’s activities were closed. According to Wetsch, 2nd Hand Rose is a great source of income for the center, and an essential service to the community. On top of meals on wheels, and working on the thrift store, Wetsch was also assisting Bondy in administrative help. Bondy spent most of her time writing federal, state and local grants. With all this going on, the two credit their work largely to the volunteers, about three hundred of them. To name a few, they want to acknowledge Jackie Riley, Elizabeth Thompson and Dorothy Noack. “This is an amazing place because as a team, we help each other,” says Wetsch. “It’s the kind of team where your job description can change. We’re all equal, nobody is better than anyone else. It’s a real healthy and sweet environment.” Although the volunteers have helped the center greatly the past couple of years, they are always looking for more help. Both to deliver meals and assist with the second-hand store. Bondy also wants to note that, “It’s important that people know what a wonderful place this is. There is so much life and vitality here. We don’t just play cards and do bingo; we hike, we walk, we have laptops available and special events, dances of every kind, exercise classes, strength training classes. It really is a place filled with activities; I think there’s something for everyone.”