An exercise class at Tyler Street Tower, before the COVID crisis.

One block of Ninth Street in Oak Cliff is home to 175 low-income seniors.

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Residents of Tyler Street Tower Senior Living are staying in their apartments.

“Normally we preach against isolation, and now it’s like, ‘Please, isolate,'” says administrator Johnice Woods.

Many of the residents are aren’t connected to the internet and don’t have smart phones, and they’re getting antsy, she says.

Woods says they have a van to take residents to 6 a.m. senior hours at grocery stores, but otherwise, they try to keep everyone inside.

“We’re constantly wiping everything down,” Woods says. “We’re keeping everyone calm.”

Highland Park United Methodist Church brings sack lunches for residents every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, and those are hung on residents’ doorknobs.

Neighbors can volunteer distributing the lunches. The tower can also use volunteers on Tuesdays when food boxes arrive.

Their monthly birthday celebrations are canceled for now, so the staff tries to make goodie bags to leave on people’s doors for their birthdays. They could use donations for the goodie bags.

Donations of jigsaw puzzles, coloring books and colored pencils, seek-and-find puzzle books and large-print books would be appreciated.

Woods says the residents also enjoy receiving homemade cards.

And they’re looking for “phone buddies” who lonesome seniors can call up for a chat.

Contact Woods by email, jw_ts@att.net, to inquire about volunteering or donations.