News & Impact

Over their many years together, Jim and Dale became known as a San Francisco couple you could count on: to take part in campaigns for LGBT rights, to help friends living with—or dying of—HIV, and to support their city’s many cultural and athletic institutions. “I taught Dale to love football,” says Jim, 77, an ex-jock and Air Force vet, “and he taught me to love the ballet.” But as Jim and Dale, who is 69, have gotten older, they have had to face their share of infirmities. Jim has congestive heart failure, osteoporosis, and many other physical ailments. Over the… Read More

Helga was in her late 70s when she began walking down to Route 101 at all hours, waiting for the bus en route from Sonoma County to San Francisco. Once in the city, she wandered the streets lugging a valise stuffed with cash. Helga had sustained a brain injury in her 40s, but at that time had a husband, sister, and brother-in-law to look after her. After they had all died or become infirm themselves, she only had Loretta, her niece, and Loretta’s husband to see to her needs. The couple lived an hour away, and Loretta feared that something… Read More

After 14 years, Barry and Lisa were as in love with each other as in the early days of their courtship. “When I saw and heard Lisa for the first time—at a museum exhibit—I knew she was the one for me,” says Barry. “She was warm, beautiful, and open-hearted. I’d been waiting for someone like her for my entire life. She was my beacon of light.” So when Lisa, 50, was diagnosed with uterine cancer this past October, the blow for Barry was as unbearable as the pain for Lisa. Scrambling for services to help them, Barry reached out to… Read More