Sonia, Gregory, and Tsehainesh of Wells Fargo.

About two years ago, I met a homeless man who opened a checking account when I was working at a Project Homeless Connect (PHC) event. He arrived with absolutely nothing and left with general assistance, food, job training, and a bank account. Now a changed man, he comes into the Wells Fargo Civic Center store every two weeks with a paycheck in hand, an aura of confidence, and a big smile on his face. It makes me proud to know that I played a part in helping him get back on his feet.

Since Wells Fargo was first introduced to PHC two years ago, my fellow team members and I have volunteered at several PHC events. I’m so proud to do my part in helping homeless San Franciscans get back on their feet. It is such a rewarding feeling.

My participation in PHC events has shown me that we can make a positive change in people’s lives. However, I have realized it is next to impossible without support from the community.

Our team is proud to support Project Homeless Connect and help provide basic services that are so important in helping homeless San Franciscans.

For my upcoming 60th birthday, they wondered what they could get for me. “I have everything I need; please don’t give me anything, only your congratulations!” was the answer. So, as I wished, they didn’t buy me anything. However, they came up with two gifts that took my breath away:

First, my friend Cathy presented me with a Project Homeless Connect registration print-out – she had signed up to spend June 5 at Bill Graham Auditorium as a first-time volunteer. Then, my friend Barbara presented me with donations for Project Homeless Connect that she had collected from my mom, my sister, and 20 friends – totaling $2,250!

A dedicated volunteer since the first Project Homeless Connect, I have never suggested that anyone else volunteer or donate. Thank you, loved ones, for picking up on my passion and honoring me in a BIG way as I turned 60!

- Sonja Hyams, long time PHC Volunteer and Supporter

When a close friend and a major part of my support system turned a significant age, I wanted to recognize this rite of passage in a significant way. I turned to the one thing I know she is passionate about, Project Homeless Connect, and honored her birthday by donating a day of my time.

I packed up my comfort zone and headed off to Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. What I saw on the main floor made quite an impression. I expected representatives from shelters, drug rehabilitation and a food bank, but I had never considered the need for other services such as reading glasses, lawyer services or the ability to make a possibly life changing call to a loved one. I was told that it is possible to achieve more at one Project Homeless Connect event than eight months of persistent agency visits.

If you have a friend who loves San Francisco the way Sonja and I do, I encourage you to consider a gift of your time to Project Homeless Connect.

- Cathy, first time PHC Volunteer

Some of the highlights for Willie at the PHC event were when “the lady took my coat for me. It was nice you know. Very nice.” He enjoyed a lovely dining experience and had an opportunity to get banking services. He would later get a haircut and podiatry services provided by PHC. “The event was a fun little get-together” for Willie and he’d gotten so involved that time went fast for him while meeting other people. What touched Willie the most in the two hours that had gone so quickly for him was “the fact that there’s a lot of people coming together. It’s inspirational.”

Willie wasn’t staying with friends in the City but he did have shelter. He felt that San Francisco has so much to offer that there’s no way the homeless have to be on the street. As a single gentleman, Willie was taking it day-by-day and planned to follow-up on the information and services he had obtained at the PHC event.

So, what is Willie Brown’s dream? He hopes to open a work program for the homeless in San Francisco so “they can begin to pull their own weight versus staying dependent on others.” Willie Brown’s determination, warmth and humor along with the help of PHC services will, undoubtedly, help his big dream to come true because as he says, “San Francisco is something else!”

For 12 years Vinny traveled the country as a stand-up comedian, following the renowned Comedy Store circuit that helped launch the careers of iconic entertainers like David Letterman and Robin Williams. Vinny’s work in such a well-known Hollywood venue even helped him land a few small movie roles along the way, however no amount of success could prepare him for what happened next.

“I came out here and did the Hollywood thing, got caught on drugs, went back to Cincinnati, and was on a ten-year drug binge,” he said. Back in his hometown, he started “drinking and drugging real bad,” fueled by several personal setbacks such as his mother’s death.

Despite the power of addiction, Vinny was determined to correct his mistakes. He returned to California, bringing his wife and stepchildren to San Francisco. With no specific housing or job prospects, they ended up in Hamilton Family Center, a PHC nonprofit partner that specializes in family housing assistance.

His wife, a teacher, found a position with the San Francisco Unified School District. Vinny went to work as an “independent contractor” for Visa/Mastercard. “We got a place, and we got out of the homeless situation,” he said.

Now clean and sober for four years, Vinny uses his past personal hardship to continue a cause he has supported for a long time. “I’ve always wanted to help the homeless,” he said, adding that battling homelessness is “a passion of mine” as he knows many people without a permanent home.
Vinny performed comedy shows to benefit the homeless even while drugs and alcohol dominated his life in Cincinnati. These days memories of his own homelessness only strengthen his commitment to helping others find stable housing. “I’ve been there, done that, and I’ve got friends who’ve been there, so it means something to me to help these kinds of programs,” he said.

For the last two years Vinny has served as emcee for the outdoor PHC event in Bayview relying on his comedic skills and stage experience to keep the program moving and the audience involved. Vinny provides his talent and services pro bono to the project. “Even though I need the money, I do it for free because it’s giving back,” he said.

Tiffanye Young wanted to make sure she wasn’t late for the SAGE group session. She was looking forward to finding some good resources at the PHC event today. It had become a bit difficult to get more details about fashion and art schools, after she ran away from her brother’s place a few years ago. After that she had become, as people called it, Homeless. But for her, the word signified a phase rather than a stigma. She was hoping to get out of all this, and prayed that she’d be able to finally pursue her goals this year.

The lines were already pretty long by the time Tiffanye reached the Bill Graham auditorium. She walked up to the registration desk and was greeted by one of the volunteers enthusiastically approaching her. ‘Hi, and welcome to Project Homeless Connect today’, he said, smiling at her. She always felt comfortable at these PHC events, somehow. Perhaps it was the fact that a lot of the people speaking at these sessions were survivors of very bad trauma in their own lives. It was nice that there was a program for people who understand and not somebody who’s just book educated on the different terms. It made her feel more human.

‘So, what brings you to PHC today?’, asked the volunteer. ‘I wanted to get involved with the SAGE group at behavioral health. I hope I’m not late, I walked all the way from Cyril Magnin for this.’, said Tiffanye.
‘The session started a few minutes back, but I’m sure they’ll be able to accommodate you. It must have been quite a long walk for you’, said the volunteer, grinning.

‘Yes, it has been quite a long walk’, said Tiffanye, thinking about all the hopes and struggles of the past few years. The thirteen years in Georgia, the few years with her brother before he went crazy, the struggles of being homeless, the hopes for a career in fashion and art, and now finally here. It has been a long walk indeed. But the fact that she did it for herself made her feel good about it. ‘I think it’ll be worth it’, she said smiling back at the volunteer, and cheerfully walked on.

Mother and daughter recently visited PHC with a third generation of their family—Desiree’s baby, Alika. They came for food, eyeglasses, and to order birth certificates, which are crucial for securing identification needed for Social Security cards and employment, among other things.

“If you need something here,” Terry says of PHC, “you can get it.”

When Terry thought of where she wanted to start over, she immediately thought of San Francisco, where she had spent the first 11 years of her life. Since leaving the city, she has lived all over: in San Jose, San Mateo, Sacramento, and even, for a time, in Hawaii, where Desiree was born 27 years ago. Just last month, Terry moved into a subsidized apartment in Oakland with assistance from the Hamilton Family Center. (There were no apartments available in San Francisco.) Desiree, who is fleeing a difficult relationship, is currently staying in a transitional shelter. Soon, she and Alika will be Terry’s roommates.

Terry and Desiree have not always been in each other’s lives. When her daughter was young, Terry was in prison. “I have made really bad choices. . . . I picked the wrong friends and I was stuck in the system. I did ten out of twelve years. And you can’t take that away, you can’t fix that. And so I’m finally learning how to say, ‘Okay, look, this is what I’ve done, this is not who I am and I’m not going to live in that any more.’ I’m off parole now for the first time since ’94. I’m off parole.”

Desiree, too, has a criminal record. While at PHC, she connected with Clean Slate, a program through the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office that helps people with felony and misdemeanor convictions “erase” their records, something Desiree will need in order to pursue her dream of one day becoming a nurse.

Desiree also dreams of the day she will be reunited with her three older children. Eleven, four, and two-years-old, respectively, the children live with Desiree’s father in Modesto. A car accident involving drunk driving resulted in the children being placed in his custody. Desiree hasn’t been able to get there to see them in months.

“My mom’s been really supportive of me trying to get them back and just – she’s as focused as I am trying to get them back.”

There have been scary moments. In October, Desiree had to have a fingertip amputated after being poked by a dirty needle when she was cleaning out someone’s bag. Shortly after, she got pricked with a needle again. Alika “was in my stomach the whole time and she’s perfectly healthy and fine.”

“The only problem she has,” Terry says of her granddaughter, “is she’s too cute for her own good.”
Through it all, mother and daughter have remained friends.

“We’re working together,” Terry says, to overcome obstacles. “I don’t ever want her to feel alone again. I don’t want her to think for one minute that she’s not 100% loved and respected and if that’s what I can offer her, if I can show her to respect and love herself, if nothing else.

“She’s pretty spectacular. And she’s the strongest one of all three of us.”

Desiree in return says that since her mother has been back in her life, “It’s calmer, easier. I now have a friend that can support me unconditionally, and that’s been real nice.”

For the time being, the two will continue to make use of the resources available to them through PHC.

“The last time I was here I was alone,” Terry says. “This time I’m here with my daughter and my granddaughter. Unfortunately, we’re here, but it’s great.”

With no private medical insurance or Medi-Cal coverage, she realized her health problems outnumbered her options. A broken back, severe asthma, and high blood pressure limited her job prospects. And for almost as long as she could remember, she hadn’t heard out of her right ear. “They don’t know if it was from birth,” she said. “We didn’t notice it until I started grammar school.”

So after living in Sacramento for seven years, Renetta returned to her native San Francisco four months ago “to get more help with medical assistance.”

When she first arrived, she stayed at the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center before getting a housing referral from an agency in Sacramento. She just recently found “very stable” accommodations in Hunters Point, near Candlestick Park. “It’s a nice, quiet area” with some fairly new housing, she said. Her sister even lives around the corner.

But finding a place to live didn’t resolve Renetta’s health concerns. She knew that even without health insurance, she could go to San Francisco General Hospital for emergencies — except her chronic, often debilitating medical conditions probably wouldn’t qualify. And they were really affecting her life.

She needed a lawyer to help her secure supplemental security income (SSI) for her back injury. “Just until I can try to get back on my feet,” she said. “I wouldn’t mind going back to work.” As a former cook, construction worker, nurse, and security guard, her willing, flexible attitude often disguised her physical ailments.

At Project Homeless Connect, Renetta finally found the medical and legal help she needed. Although it was her first time visiting PHC, she felt confident she was in the right place. “I know this is a good program here,” she said. Now she’ll talk to a lawyer, find a doctor, and through a dental referral, take care of a nagging front tooth. “I see a lot of things that can help me.”

So far, she has no regrets about moving back to San Francisco. “The only thing I miss in Sacramento is the heat,” she said. Her relocation also has brought her closer to her family. She’s the mother of three girls and one boy, all grown with children of their own. “They keep me going,” she said. And Renetta is more than happy to help take care of her five “grandbabies,” including four-year-old Jasmine, her second oldest grandchild, who sometimes stays with her during the day.

As someone who has “seen it all,” both in San Francisco and elsewhere, Renetta focuses on reachable opportunities, not missed chances. Her vision of the future remains hopeful but realistic. “I’m doing the
best I can,” she said.

Originally from Ohio, Michael has lived in San Francisco for over 27 years. Enough time that he now considers himself a native.

Invited to the city by a relative he found employment in a department store; but problems with alcoholism and going “a little over the top with… fun” eventually lost him his job and his housing. Single and without children, he currently lives on the streets and in shelters.

Project Homeless Connect (PHC) has been part of Michael’s life for some time. Michael learns about PHC events from flyers in shelters and drop-in centers and utilizes the events to receive some of the “basic necessities” that are hard to access when out on the street.

“But there are times when I have more things to get then just lunch and a haircut.” Michael says.

Beyond helping him procure hygienic products and groceries, PHC has also assisted Michael with obtaining a DMV ID and shelter services.

“The staff of volunteers is pretty nice in aiding people.” He observes.

Michael is currently looking for more secure housing and would like to find administrative work or work with computers. He enjoys using Microsoft applications, such as Word and Excel and writing letters. Michael is also interested in pursuing his passion, music, more seriously. A jazz trumpet player, Michael currently practices with a small combo, though he’s looking to find a regular gig. The group is still working on ironing out some kinks and coming up with a name.

Michael wishes that there were more public housing facilities for the disabled.

“…they have a lot of other specialty [sites] for other people - senior citizen, this group, that group - but I haven’t witness much… [for] people that are handicapped.”

Still, Michael is glad for the resources PHC has helped provide for him.

Situations changed. LeTroy, a 57-year-old New York City native and Air Force veteran, had arrived in San Francisco, but broke and alone. “I had used my money to come here, and my job transfer didn’t come through,” he said. Discouraged, he resisted going back to the persistent drug habit that had shackled him for more than 20 years.

“Not getting married was one of the big things that caused me to derail,” he said. “I didn’t use (drugs) or anything like that, but I found myself here homeless.”

Fortunately through PHC he also found Swords to Plowshares, the Bay Area-based nonprofit that specifically helps homeless vets. He immediately received an interview and counseling from the organization, and he said it simply “put me on the right track.”

LeTroy’s commitment to the program initially made all the difference. “I followed through with everything they asked me to do,” he said. “I went to all the interviews I was to go to. I was honest with the counselor.”

That dedication energized his confidence and ambition. He could again make plans. He might face challenges, “but I took it as an opportunity instead of a downturn,” he said.

Now, only a year after coming to San Francisco, LeTroy is living in a comfortable two-bedroom house and has returned to school for career retraining in Web development. He’s even started a business, Marketplace Services Unlimited, which specializes in Internet marketing and Website design. “It’s just been a completely new and growing experience,” he said.

LeTroy’s growth has included other aspects of his life as well. He has reaffirmed his faith and personal values – both a casualty of his drug battles for many years – simply by helping others. Last summer he volunteered at an event that helped homeless veterans locate the kind of services he himself found through PHC and Swords to Plowshares. And he now volunteers at a food bank once a week.

“I’ve found two things about volunteering and helping people,” he said. “First of all, it makes your problems small. The other thing is that in order to be blessed, you have to be a blessing.”

Kevin has used the services at PHC at least six times since he has lived in San Francisco. Most recently, he came to have his back “popped and aligned” by the chiropractor, and to sign up for much-needed voicemail. He didn’t quite get to the dentist, but he’ll make it a priority at his next visit.

“The [PHC] volunteers,” he said, “were very kind and helpful.” They took him where he needed to go and pointed him in the right direction. Even the clients themselves, he says, are kind and helpful. At PHC, we are able to “get away from the chaos of life outside, just for a couple hours…to get what we need and enjoy each other’s company.”

A native of the East Bay, Kevin lived most of his life in Castro Valley. The house that he shared with his grandmother, mother, and brother sat on an acre of land—an acre the landlord eventually decided he wanted for his own family. Kevin and his family were evicted.

At first things weren’t too bad. With the money Kevin’s mother earned working and his grandmother’s SSI checks, the family was able to afford to stay in motel rooms. But then the money and their luck ran out. The family split up. Kevin’s grandmother went to live with his aunt. Kevin, his mother, and his brother became squatters in the very house they had been evicted from. When they got caught, they had nowhere to go.

For awhile, the threesome lived in a shelter in Berkeley. But shelter stays have time limits. When no other options presented themselves, the family ended up living on the streets.

Then came a bit of hope. Kevin heard that resources for the homeless were better in San Francisco than in the East Bay. This was how he discovered PHC. “People should really come check it out. At least there is one place where there are so many things in one place rather than going to so many different places to get each and every little thing,” he says. “There are a lot of things that people need in their daily lives that [they] are unable to get either ’cause they don’t know how to or they’re just unavailable. And in this environment they’re all together in one area that’s just perfect.”

Since arriving in San Francisco, Kevin has looked for ways to improve his life. A few credits shy of graduating high school, he took the initiative to earn his GED. He then went on to complete courses at City College. His real dream, though, is to attend film school, to make that documentary, to maybe, one day, even win an Oscar.