Missing participants, staff hold mini-parade in Burnsville

Social distancing and bans on large group gatherings left many ProAct staff in Eagan missing the participants they serve each day. So, they decided to do something about it.

Program Manager Stephanie Osman heard about school teachers who assembled parades of decorated cars to visit student neighborhoods. Could ProAct do the same thing?

Staffers at Burnsville Center get animated, and excited to see participants.

“Everyone is consistently talking about how much they miss everyone,” said Osman. “We thought, ‘If they miss us as much as we miss them, we should go do that.”

She knew that a participant and a former participant had gotten badly sick with things other than COVID, and she was concerned for them. “We wanted to drive by her house . . . and drive by his place too.”

Assembling on Sunday, April 5 at Burnsville Center for some car decorating and pre-parade prep, several staff joined the campaign. They visited several homes (outside) and had a blast, Osman said.