Seniors Series: Pleasanton Senior Center keeps folks connected

The Pleasanton Senior Center is normally a bustling place with folks pouring through the doors weekdays for classes, talks and lunches or to browse through the Peddler Shoppe’s handcrafted items.

Closed since mid-March due to the pandemic, the gathering place’s spirit continues as staff and members explore how to keep everyone engaged.

“We’re trying to keep up our programming but had to shift to virtual,” city recreation supervisor Rachel Prater said.

Almost immediately, the center began offering 11 a.m. Tuesday Talks with Friends on Zoom, which are proving to be popular, she said. This week, participants shared their pets. Coming up are “In the Kitchen” with Nicole Peters on Aug. 11; “Mind your Memory” with Susan and Margaret, Aug. 18; and “Favorite Vacation Memory,” Aug. 25.

“We wanted to find a way people could see each other face to face,” Prater said. “When the facility was open, we had so many people coming in just to socialize. We always had a puzzle and people coming in for coffee or to grab a book.”

Staff members started telephoning those who had frequented the center, just to chat and to get ideas about what people might enjoy right now.

“What I have loved about working at the Senior Center is being able to talk to the folks who come in and hear their stories,” Prater said. “Now we are getting to know them on a different level, like hearing about their garden.”

People are finding new activities according to their interests, she observed. Many of the crafty people who keep the Peddler Shoppe filled with inventory have been opening up Etsy shops online.

“I was really impressed,” Prater said.

The Senior Center on Sunol Boulevard continues its weekday lunch program for those 60 and older using curbside service. The nutritious lunch, which costs $3, normally provides a chance to join friends in the dining room but now at least it is delivered to cars with a friendly word and smiling eyes over the masks. The menu is available in the “EDGE E-Newsletter,” which can be found through the city website, www.cityofpleasantonca.gov. For reservations, call 500-8241.

EDGE also has information about the Friendly Calls program and links to fitness videos, games, entertainment and more, including “Name that Tune” on Zoom the third Thursday of each month.

The Senior Center also continues with Pleasanton Paratransit, to drive those ages 70 and older to medical appointments and grocery shopping on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

The Senior Center Watercolor Group led by Robin Violette meets once a week on Zoom, and last month presented a virtual art show for downloading. Tom Reif leads the Personal Technology Users Group of computer enthusiasts as they enjoy discussions and demonstrations. Contact information is listed in EDGE.

“An interesting aspect is that with groups that have been going on for years, someone who moved out of state is able to join us again,” Prater said.

The Senior Center still has staff working onsite, including Prater; recreation coordinator Shawn Harris, who coordinates virtual programs for seniors as well as RADD (Recreation for Adults with Developmental Disabilities); paratransit dispatcher Gloria Lewis; and senior program assistant Evelyn Widmann, who works part time. They alternate days onsite so two rarely work together, but if they do, they stay in their own areas.

“We greet phone callers and get emails here,” Prater said. “If someone wants to join Zoom but doesn’t know where to start, a team member will pick up the phone and talk them through it.”

She recalled a 94-year-old front desk volunteer who, after the closure, was determined to learn to Zoom.

“The first couple of times she was struggling but she figured it out,” Prater said.

The Friends of the Senior Center, a nonprofit organization that focuses on raising funds, has joined in the brainstorming about what to offer. When they thought of holding a rock-painting social time on Zoom, they sponsored it.

“They paid for kits, with a couple of rocks with paints and paint brushes,” Prater said. “Everyone joined up and painted rocks together.”

“We’re trying to think outside the box here,” she added with a laugh.

Community services manager Jay Ingram, who oversees the human services division of the Senior Center, said conversations are ongoing at the department level of the city about what changes might come out of the pandemic.

“We’re actually in discussion now on what does the fall look like,” Ingram said, “assuming we can come back some time in the fall or sometime afterwards.”

“It is important to continue services,” he said. “Each department will have discussions.”

The city of Pleasanton has customers “cradle to grave,” he noted, and strategic planning is important to bring back suspended activities and services. Gingerbread Preschool’s opening for Aug. 24 has been pushed back.

Ingram said probably the reopening of Senior Center activities will be done in phases.

“We’ll have to figure out what that looks like,” Ingram said. “The senior population is not a population we want to rush back. We will be strategic about this.”

“We are driven by county orders and the city’s comfort with it,” he added. “We will take a strategic, careful and thoughtful approach going forward.”