The Western Addition Senior Center — established almost half a century ago by grassroots activists local to the area — has been reinvigorated over the past year. The center has been refreshed with a new style, menu, and activities for seniors who visit the center located in the heart of the Western Addition.
A favorite among Bayview seniors at the center is the soul food menu. The menu has been prepared by a registered dietician, and represents a delightful array of Southern style food. The center's industrial-sized kitchen overflows with leafy greens and a wide variety of other healthy foods. Seniors can indulge in such meals as fried chicken with sides of steamed red potatoes and asparagus, baby back ribs and greens with a hefty serving of potato salad, and baked beans with macaroni and cheese.
“The meals program is very popular. The seniors love the soul food; it’s something that draws them in,” said General Director Cathy Davis of Bayview Hunters Point Multipurpose Senior Services, an umbrella organization for the Western Addition Senior Center and its sister center, the Dr. George W. Davis Senior Center in Bayview.
“We follow mandatory food guidelines to make sure it’s healthy and nutritious too,” Davis added.
In addition to the meals program, seniors can take advantage of health services offered through the center to help insure that seniors are aging with health options that meet their needs. Medical care, mental health services, and social work are all resources that seniors can obtain at the center.
The center works with many nonprofit and governmental organizations in order to provide these services. The services promote healthy lifestyles and teach preventative care. With these benefits, seniors have a greater knowledge of how to stay in top health as they age.
Activities are in high demand at the center, as well. Part of the center’s new curriculum is to engage the seniors in a way that will help them build community and make friends. Art classes, exercise activities, line dancing, and computer skills courses are only a few of the things going on at the center each week. The center has also seen a flux in the amount of seniors who come out and participate in the activities and services offered.
Since the senior center is located in a central area of the Western Addition, many seniors find that it is easy to travel to the center by foot or public transit. “We now service more than one hundred seniors daily,” said Davis. “We’re seeing more seniors from around San Francisco because our hours of operation allow us to be open every day.”
The center drastically affects the seniors who participate in the outreach services and senior center activities. Seniors who have no families build friendships at the senior center, making them less isolated. “The center positively affects seniors who participate in the activities here. I know one senior in particular who has completely changed,” said social worker Jeanine Seymour, when asked about the impact the Western Addition Senior Center has on its seniors, “This woman is in her mid-70’s with no family,” Seymour said. “She was withdrawn and spoke very little. But since she has joined the current events group offered here at the center, she has become very outspoken and enjoys talking with the other participants.”
In addition to helping the seniors who partake in its services and activities, the Western Addition Senior Center also builds community within the neighborhood. “The center has positively affected the Western Addition neighborhood in the past year by doing outreach,” Seymour stated. “Recently, [this was] in the form of a Social Services Fair held at the center several weeks ago. This fair consisted of different agencies including the Department of Aging and Adult Services — DAAS, Aging and Disability Resource Center — ADRC, and many others.
“We also participated in the Juneteenth Festival, doing outreach and signing new people up for our lunch program,” Seymour added with regard to the center's neighborhood involvement. The Western Addition Senior Center has more outreach events planned for this summer.
Cathy Davis believes that the success of the center lies within the community it resides. “We really see a deep connection to the community in this Western Addition neighborhood,” she said. The tradition of the volunteers who founded the senior center is still alive and it thrives in this community.
“The center has also survived some hard times and now it is thriving better than ever,” Davis said. “The seniors here are active and happy, and they’re really an extension of the community. One of the things we strive for with the Western Addition Senior Center is to connect with the community, and so far we’ve been successful. The spirit of the community has grown so much in only a year.”
Donations are accepted by the senior center, and anyone interested in making a donation can do so by visiting the website of the Western Addition Senior Center’s sister center, the Bayview Hunter’s Point Adult Day Health Center at www.bhpadhc.org. The center is also looking for volunteers who love working with seniors and having fun.
The senior center is located at 1390–1/2 Turk St., and its telephone number is 415.921.7805.
