Faithful Fools has been a presence in the Tenderloin for 20 years acknowledging each human's incredible worth. Celebrate our 20th year of accompaniment and walk with us into the next 20 years and the 20 after that.

Faithful Fools is a supportive space in-between, responding so gaps don't become barriers. We are not the agency that provides people's actual housing or medical care or formal case management; we are the ones who walk with people to appointments or offer steadiness in moments of conflict or an attentive ear to hear when things have gotten too hard. As we walk with people through the maze of social services or sit quietly in the intimacy of personal appointments, we can notice where the gaps are in the system and in the capacities of a person seeking services. By filling those gaps, we help keep things moving. We see that the barriers between staying on the street and getting inside (and sometimes to just stay housed) are complex and that it takes time and consistent presence to accompany someone through it all.

"Presence is the quality of being there."

For the Fools to be a safe place and a trusted presence over the long haul, to really be there day after day when things are tough and discouragement begins to creep in, requires human and financial resources. Being available requires that we be here in the neighborhood and on the streets. Without people who are available—which means salaries and support for volunteers—we would be unable to do this work. And without our assistance fund we would be unable to meet the short term or immediate needs of the people we accompany. You can support our work by supporting our assistance fund and our general operating costs.

As a small organization that addresses many needs one at a time, we can do things that larger agencies can’t (just as we depend on them for things we cannot do).

• We can be with people over hours and days and years, growing in relationship and understanding, and mutual care.
• We may be unable to provide permanent housing, but we can keep track of housing appointments, fill out paper work, and keep spirits up when the process of securing a room takes weeks or months and it seems like it will never happen.
• We can provide a security deposit TODAY without bureaucratic hurdles, because we have been part of the process and know the individual who needs it.
• As move-in day approaches, we can find people boxes to help pack up personal belongings and assist with transporting them.
• We can transform a room into a home by providing a bed, TV or refrigerator, or by arranging furniture and art together.
• We can help fight those bedbugs when emotional or physical limitations make it impossible to battle alone—we can show up with garbage bags and quarters for dryers and rubber blue gloves and songs to sing just at the right time.
• We can provide a place to write and read poetry, play a little music, watch and discuss a film, meditate or put on a nose and hat and clown around a bit to keep creative energy flowing.

Building relationships over years enables us to fill the relational gap when one's family can’t, maybe because of the separation over time or distance or a painful past has not healed.

• We can visit a person in the hospital or a care center—and bring clean clothes or chocolate or a chess set—or help in the transition back home.
• We can be there when critical moments come and assist with making medical decisions that become hard and confusing.
• We can sit with a person near the end, knowing we will carry them with us as we walk each day, and if they wish their ashes can join the company of ancestors in our meditation room.

It is no small thing for one to know they are not alone.

Thank you for walking with us as we walk with and accompany people through life and all the ups and downs ... and for supporting us into our next 20 years of presence in the Tenderloin. What we say in our mission statement is true...

"We discover on the streets our common humanity."