The Northeast Youth Center was unusually quiet Thursday afternoon.

Normally the building is teeming with more than 130 children who pass under a rainbow of hand prints on a wall.

The coronavirus pandemic has reduced that number to just a couple dozen who need care. With school and home life interrupted, the children are making a difference by writing letters to residents of the Spokane Veterans Home, where there is an outbreak of COVID-19.

“They love the idea that they’re making a positive impression in someone’s life,” said Executive Director Kate Green.

Sami Abdalla, age 7, said he enjoyed writing the letters “because it’s very niceful.”

The Northeast Youth Center, located in Hillyard, provides before-school care, after-school care and homework help, and is a licensed preschool.

Families can take advantage of all or some of the services that include field trips, educational activities and acts of service.

Last year the center had a wait list to get one of 135 spots. Typically the children come from single parent families with 89% qualifying for state assistance, Green said.

“They rely heavily on us for the extra support and that’s what we’re here for,” Green said.

When Gov. Jay Inslee announced the “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order last month, Green wasn’t sure what that meant for child care centers.

“My understanding was we had to shut down,” Green said.

Eventually after some clarification and research, Green realized the center could stay open but wanted to do a deep clean first.

“Regardless if we’re allowed to be open or not, I personally felt we needed to do the due diligence of head to toe sanitizing,” Green said.

Parents were understanding but worried about what to do with their children, especially if they still had to work.

The center closed for a week to be cleaned, and when it reopened, only about a dozen children attended. Over the last month, that number has risen.

“It’s been gradual, I think people are like, okay, it has been a month,” Green said. “I need to have some normalcy.”

Many of the students who currently receive care at the center have parents who are essential workers, Green said.

Green said many parents have been struggling to work from home and facilitate school work.

“You’re still doing your work and then to teach three different grades …” Green said with a shrug and a sigh.

While there aren’t nearly as many children at the center as normal, staff members are still offering services to kids at home, like homework help sessions.

“If we need to do a Skype session and we need to work through problems with your child, that’s what we’re here for,” Green said.

While they are doing health checks on teachers and the students, Green said things are operating as normally as possible.

“They already have enough stresses in their life for the kids that we’re serving,” Green said. “So we’re just trying to keep things as normal.”

Another way to help kids cope has been through acts of service, Green said.

The students are painting rocks to place outside residents’ rooms at Brighton Court, a local assisted living facility.

Students used to visit residents at Brighton Court, and some of them have pen pals there, Green said.

That prior relationship with an assisted living facility is what inspired employee Mike Ellis to reach out to the Spokane Veterans Home.

“It’s great for the kids to be able to do this because that’s going to be so wonderful for those veterans to see these beautiful little cards from kids,” Ellis said.

Best friends Ruby Bowling, 10, and Charlie Dewey, 10, have attended the youth center together for years. Both girls talked about how their grandparents were veterans and they thought of them while making the cards.

Hopefully it will make them “less stressed,” Bowling said.