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At first it just sat there. Collecting dust. Daunting her.

She could have turned it on, but why bother? She wasn't sure how to use it and she certainly didn't know how to "surf the net."

"All my friends have computers," said Doris Chapman of Walnut Creek, "but they were pretty foreign to me."

And so it sat. Like many other people her age, Chapman — unfamiliar with the home computer and the information age — felt at a loss.

"Older adults are very intimidated by the computer," explained Connie Acton, an educational consultant. "They have thought computers are complex technology for businesses and, in fact, this is no longer true. Now computers are in wide use in the home."

Acton recently assisted WorldlySurfers International — a company organized to help older adults gain proficiency in computer skills — in establishing a computer club and classes at the Contra Costa Jewish Community Center in Walnut Creek.

The computer lab and classes are a first for both WorldlySurfers and the CCJCC.

"So much of the world is now connected by computers," said Ellen Meyer, senior adult department director for the CCJCC. "But school-age children are more adept to computers than we are. We thought bringing in WorldlySurfers would be a wonderful way for our elder community to reach out and get everything the computer and Web have to offer."

Several classes on subjects including Microsoft Word, Excel and scanning the Internet are being offered in the intimate lab setting, which has 10 computer stations as well as couches for relaxing. Acton and other teachers guide participants through the ins and outs of computers, starting from the beginning.

"Some seniors have never even turned a computer on," said Acton. "And many have difficulty with the mouse. It's a difficult transition for them because it takes a light touch and you have to control a pointer that's on the screen by moving the mouse around."

Chapman, who has temporarily inherited her computer while her son and daughter-in-law search for a new home, admitted that the mouse, at first, posed some problems.

"I couldn't control it and I thought I needed a bigger mouse pad," she said. Then, during the WorldlySurfers orientation in the CCJCC lab last week, Acton suggested playing the game solitaire as a way to "get used to moving the mouse," she said.

That, of course, quickly posed another problem. Chapman has become a solitaire addict.

"Now my husband says I'm spending too much time on the computer," she said, laughing. "When our kids find a place to move, I'll have to get one of my own."

With the help of her classes she hopes to utilize e-mail to communicate with friends, and the Internet to get information on books as well as for holiday shopping.

When others are scattered in the crowded shopping malls buying last-minute Chanukah presents this December, people like Chapman could fill in their gift lists at the click of a button.

"It will be a big help because my feet aren't too good," she said.

With all the options available on the Internet, seniors are becoming one of the fastest-growing groups to log on, said Acton.

"Usually their initial reason is to communicate more easily with their children and grandchildren," she said. "They also like to develop community on the Internet around people their own ages and particular areas of interest. Many of those who meet online also develop groups that meet in person.

"There are a lot of support groups online for senior caregivers," Acton added. "They are very isolated when at home taking care of a spouse and this gives them a support group to communicate with."

They can also log on, she said, to gather information or read the newspaper — including the Jewish Bulletin online at www.jewishsf.com.

Imagine downloading a new recipe for kugel, ordering an exotic menorah crafted in Israel or reading Bulletin archives without ever leaving the house.

As Meyer put it: "It's like the world just becomes theirs."

Classes are ongoing at the CCJCC, with four 2-hour classes in each course. Eventually, as WorldlySurfers expands throughout the Bay Area and the United States, a network will connect all seniors on the WorldlySurfers satellite, allowing them to share information more readily.