Still closed, but still connected.

Though the Bainbridge Island Senior Community Center remains closed, and all in-person activities at the gathering place have been put on hold since March 13, the center is still working to keep its connections with seniors.

Outreach and support efforts have turned to email, streaming video, and social media. And the phone.

“Like many of faith communities, churches, synagogs, and our friends over at Island Volunteer Caregivers, we have fielded a team of a couple dozen people who are making regular calls to check up on people,” said Reed Price, executive director of the center.

“We have sort of a glorified phone tree to make connections with as many of our members as we can,” Price explained.

The center is also hosting a daily online video call, using Google Meet, a video conferencing app.

The daily video get-together has featured a series of topics, ranging from the latest books that people have read or what’s good now on Netflix.

Price described the chats as “just over-the-back-fence discussions on how you’re making do.”

They’ve also hosted guest speakers and experts, on both serious and light-hearted topics.

“It’s just an excuse to get together every day for a virtual cup of coffee and look at each other’s faces,” Price added.

The call is at 11:30 a.m. daily Monday through Friday. About 20 people join in on the daily call, Price said, and it’s open to the public. (A link to the call is on the center’s website at biseniorcenter.org.)

This week’s schedule included “Writing with Sue Barrington,” “Earth Day with Ann Lovejoy,” and “KRL’s John Fossett on Fake News.”

“We’re just trying to make a hybrid of using the tried-and-true of calling people up on the phone,” Price said.

More than a half-dozen of the groups at the center still meet, but not in person.

Iris Eimon, the director of the Evergreen Singers, has been sending out a weekly email to its members, he added, with music files attached or a link to YouTube, to keep the group singing from the same page.

Other groups also continue to meet, with some using Zoom video conferencing, including the Astrology Group and the Reader’s Theater.

Sessions are also ongoing for the French Conversation Club and the Spanish Club.

Instructor Helen Heaslip continues to give her morning exercise class, but on YouTube.

“She’s teaching from her living room,” Price said, and has 35 subscribers so far.

He noted the center is still being used for Meals on Wheels deliveries, which reduced its visits to Bainbridge to once a week, at noon on Thursdays (those who have signed up in advance for meals can get up to five frozen meals on the delivery day).

The center also started a jigsaw puzzle exchange a couple of weeks ago.

People can drop off a puzzle to share, which are then set aside for a week before they are made available for use.

There’s currently a stack of a couple dozen boxes of puzzles ready for check-out.

“It’s been quite a transition,” Price said.

Before the COVID-19 shutdown, the center was seeing about a hundred visitors a day on average.

“And now none of that is going on,” he said.