Photo by Travis Pratt Steve Stoyke, right, of Frederick County Department of Aging, talks with seniors about the importance of flu vaccinations at the Urbana Senior Center.

In the senior center on the first floor, a group of 60- to 80-year-olds gathered for their favorite monthly meal.

It was omelet day, held on the third Wednesday of each month.

Seniors choose their fillings -- cheese, spinach, mushrooms, pepper, ham -- and a cook from Buckingham's Choice Retirement Community whips up the omelets.

Then, volunteers loaded the plates with biscuits, potatoes, bacon, fruit and a pancake.

"It's really good food, and it's not very expensive," Urbana senior center coordinator Susan Hofstra said.

"They get out, and they get to talk to other seniors."

The center asks for a donation of $4.80 per person, but Hofstra doesn't check to see how much a person gives, and no one is turned away for not paying.

In addition to the lunches during the week, the center has recently started offering breakfast on the second Saturday of each month.

The center serves seniors in Urbana , Green Valley, Kemptown, Adamstown , even people from Montgomery County.

Robert Bush, 78, of Urbana , started coming to the center after his wife died.

Hofstra remembers the first time Bush came in, 10 minutes before the senior center closed for the day.

"'My son said I needed to come by, so I'm coming by. This is the last time I'm ever coming,'" Hofstra recalled. "So he sat and he talked to me for about 15 minutes, and he left, and he's been back every day since."

On a recent Wednesday, Bush sat at a packed table, enjoying the omelet.

A Census official told seniors about the importance of filling out the 2010 Census forms, and a Department of Aging official took blood pressure readings and shared information on the H1N1 flu.

Afterward, seniors gathered to play virtual bowling on a Nintendo Wii.

"It's very much a community, it's kind of like a family, actually," Hofstra said.