Having Fun at Any Age: Waymo and Curry Senior Center Help LGBTQ+ Seniors Move, Connect and Explore

Steve and Newton moved to San Francisco in different decades, in the 70s and 90s respectively, but they both love their chosen city. And both are facing the journey of aging as gay men in a place that has seen massive changes over the last 50 years.

Even in the midst of so much change - in SF and their own lives - Steve and Newton have found community at Lunch Bunch at Curry Senior Center, a weekly social meetup for LGBTQ+ men over the age of 55 in San Francisco. 

One beautiful summer day, Steve and Newton met up and climbed into the back seat of a Waymo to head to Lunch Bunch.

“I’m looking forward to going to Curry,” Steve said, smiling. “The people are nice, but the food is really amazing.”

“Yeah, I think for a lot of us, it's the best meal of our week,” Newton replied. 

Curry Senior Center, host of Lunch Bunch, is a long-serving SF nonprofit with a mission to support wellness, dignity & independence for low income and unhoused seniors through services and programs ranging from grocery assistance and a health clinic to social events and even assistance with using technology.

Steve and Newton’s ride was provided through a partnership between Waymo, which is helping connect members of Curry’s community to the center’s events, services, and even a Joy Ride program, where Curry community members take Waymo rides to and from adventures around SF led by Curry Senior Center staff.

Newton said he enjoyed how the Waymo felt like a “little oasis” in a sea of urban noises and stressors.

“I'd say that Waymo, for an older person like myself, is miraculous,” Newton emphasized, adding that Waymo provides a smooth, comfortable ride without any pressure to interact with a driver. “It removes any self-imposed obstacles to getting out of the house and going places.”

When Steve and Newton arrived at Curry, they said hello to their friends and lined up at a buffet table to be served a delicious lunch.

Alex Ray, the LGBTQ+ program coordinator at Curry and the facilitator of Lunch Bunch, was there to greet everyone.

“Social isolation is a big issue that many of our clients deal with, so this gives them an opportunity to at least once a week come and join their peers in a comfortable setting with people who know and understand and accept them,” Alex said. “They can just be themselves, have a good meal, share a laugh, have a conversation.”

Alex said Lunch Bunch creates a safe space for community members to feel welcome, where they’re not being judged. The event draws people from all walks of life, from different socioeconomic, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, and of diverse gender identities. 

Both Steve and Newton said Lunch Bunch has had a significant positive impact in their lives. 

“Curry Senior Center is particularly useful to me because it addresses my particular demographic, older gay men, and there's this overlap of life experience that's brought to the Curry Senior Center Lunch Bunch group,” Newton shared.

For Steve, finding Lunch Bunch was also part of building new connections after the loss of a close friend and facing his own health challenges.

“I found out about Lunch Bunch after I had been isolating for almost two years,” Steve recalled, yet he pushed himself to go. “It was nice to be able to share my story and listen to other people's stories and realize there's a community and there's supportive people and there are nice people and you don't have to be stuck in your apartment alone.”

Waymo invited Curry to be part of its Community Partner Rider Program, an ongoing initiative to provide free Waymo rides to San Francisco nonprofits and their community members. Alex said his team agreed, and quickly decided one of the many exciting ways they would put the technology and free rides to good use.

“We thought, ‘Well, why don't we just take Joy Rides around the city?’” Alex recalled. “We can go and have a barbecue somewhere, or go to the park or go to the museum or take Waymo to different landmarks in San Francisco, just have some fun again at a time when maybe you're thinking, ‘I'll just sit at home and watch TV.’”

Waymo and Curry Senior Center have built a dynamic partnership over the years, with a focus on safe and accessible transportation for the aging adult community in SF. Waymo has provided financial support, event sponsorship and ongoing volunteerism to support Curry Senior Center and their community.

Alex said Waymo can give seniors a newfound sense of freedom, independence, and joy.

“It gives them some freedom to do the things they used to do, but gave up on. They can start to reclaim some of the joy they had before they went into isolation,” Alex said.

That aligns with the purpose of Lunch Bunch, which can be restorative for members of the community who have experienced profound loss.

“Many [of the attendees] are people who've lived in San Francisco for 30 or 40 years,” Alex said. “They came here to create something new and through the course of time and with the ravages of the AIDS crisis, they lost a lot of that community [...] and even though they survived, everything they had moved here for was gone.”

Significantly, Alex said that riding with Waymo has helped Curry seniors feel connected to something hopeful and forward-looking. 

“One of my clients told me ‘I feel like I’m finally part of the future,’” Alex recalled. “He may still have difficulty using his phone, but at least in the Waymo car, he can be part of the future, and I think that's really exciting for them.”