March 18, 2020
Mount Olivet Conference & Retreat Center is committed to the safety and wellbeing of our guests and employees. Not only is this our top priority in light of the spread of COVID-19 but also is the heart of our mission of hospitality, care, and reverence for all life. To that end, we will not be receiving guests for the rest of March. Our staff will communicate personally with all groups and individuals who planned to retreat with us during this time. We will work together to reschedule events for future dates.
In the meantime, we are carefully monitoring updates and implementing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Minnesota Department of Health, and the MN Governor’s office. We will make decisions about future scheduled retreats in the days and weeks ahead and are committed to communicating closely with you about this.
We look forward to welcoming guests, who experience in this place a respite from anxiety through renewed connections to themselves, to one another, to nature, and to God. When we do so, we will continue to take these actions and any others recommended for our common good:
Our custodial, housekeeping, and kitchen staff will diligently clean all surfaces with industrial-strength disinfectant. This includes lodging rooms, dining rooms, meeting rooms, lounges, bathrooms, kitchen surfaces, front desk and lobby furniture, and frequently touched surfaces such as door handles and railings.
We will remind guests and staff to wash their hands frequently, to refrain from handshakes and hugs, to cover their coughs and sneezes, and to avoid touching their faces. Soap and hand sanitizer stations can be found throughout all of our buildings.
We will configure our lodging and meeting room spaces to increase social distancing.
We will ask staff and guests to stay at home if they are sick, if they are at high-risk of contracting COVID-19, or if they display symptoms of COVID-19.
In these anxious and uncertain days, we invite you to remember that we belong to one another and to God. We encourage you to find joy in simple pleasures. We ask that you join us in caring for and honoring one another’s humanity.
Peace + grace,
Rev. Theresa F. Latini, Ph.D.
Executive Director