One of Mix 94.9's goals for 2020 is to be more involved in the local community, getting to know our listeners -- or creating new listeners -- first-hand.

One way we're doing that is by spending time each month with local services and organizations. We kicked off January serving up lunch for folks at the Salvation Army. That was Ashli's idea.

Last Friday, we got our Happy Hour on, serving up drinks to the folks at The Sanctuary in St. Cloud and sitting down to chat! The Sanctuary is an assisted living and memory care home located at 2410 20th Avenue SE, St. Cloud.

This was a special visit for me (Adam). When I was young, my family used to visit the local nursing home on Saturday afternoons; my mom would play piano for the residents, and my dad, sisters and I would chat and make small talk with them (mostly, my dad did all the talking as my sisters and I were too nervous to). I may have been too young at the time to really understand what those visits meant to the folks there, but the memories have stuck with me for 20 years.

My own grandma is in an assisted living in the Milwaukee area. I try to call her every other weeks to check in, say hi and see how she's doing. The last time I called, she was really down. She's lonely, she told me. She misses her house, her kids and her grandkids. She rarely gets visitors, and she feels forgotten. I have fond childhood memories of visits to her house; I'd play in the pool with my cousins, there was always food everywhere, and people were always coming and going. Now that I'm older, I understand just how different things are for my grandma. I wish I was closer and could visit her more often. Memories like these made our visit to The Sanctuary that much more special.

I loved getting to meet residents like Larry, Rachelle and Audrey. We talked about living in Jamaica, the sand dunes in Indiana and seeing UFO's in Brainerd. There were no shortage of fascinating -- and, at times, crazy -- stories amongst the three of them, though Larry claimed even the unbelievable ones weren't embellished by the wine!

Thanks to the staff and residents at The Sanctuary for having the Mix 94.9 team out to spend Happy Hour with you! We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and hope to be back again soon!