06/17/2026
I want to ask you to do something hard.
I want you to imagine the first night of being homeless.
You have no home to return to.
You’ve exhausted all your resources, no money, no credit, maybe even no car.
Your family and friends are no longer able or willing to help. They may not even return your calls. You may no longer even have friends or family. You may not even have a phone.
You are utterly alone.
It’s just you and the night.
Please take a moment to imagine that.
What would pass through your mind? What would you feel? How would you act?
Some years ago, I took part in a street retreat where I lived on the streets of San Francisco for seven days with a group of several other people. I knew this experience wasn’t homelessness. I could leave at any moment. I was choosing to be there. All my life’s resources were intact.
And even still, my first feeling as the experience began was complete terror.
I had no idea who or what was safe. Everything felt like a threat.
I just kept walking to tamp away the fear.
I longed to find a safe place and fortunately found a little, fenced in park where I could rest. I sat and sat in that park, barely able to move. I remember struggling so much I was afraid to even ask a stranger for the time.
As noon came and hunger became strong, I struggled to get up and leave the park. I knew there was a local church that served a meal but I had no idea where that church was. It was hard to move.
I willed myself to walk.
Eventually, I saw the crowds and found the church.
I ate my first meal.
And things became easier.
I now understood that I could feed myself, and my mind returned.
There was still fear to overcome, but my emotional paralysis was over.
I carried on... but never forgot.
Homelessness is one of the greatest of human terrors. The isolation, the loneliness, the exposure. Author and teacher Martha Beck talks about the fear of becoming a “bag lady” – not my favorite term, but a visceral description of a primal panic that many people have of poverty, homelessness, and social rejection.
I’m a big believer that this is why we so deeply marginalize the poor. They remind us of what we fear maybe more than anything.
Some years ago, Beacon went through a renaming. As a homeless agency, we wanted a name that expressed the organization we had become while speaking clearly our values and our vision. We chose the name Beacon because we wanted to be that light in the darkness, that light at the end of the tunnel… we wanted to be that safe light in the middle of the night when you find yourself all alone with nowhere to turn.
That’s what I want us to be... when you’re all alone... with nowhere to turn... in the dead of night... you see our light in the distance. And you feel home.
Whether it’s a meal, a bed, a shower, a job, a home, or a caring presence, we walk with you out of the night and into the love and life you deserve.
If this is something that calls to you, please join us in this sacred work.
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Written by Rev. Forrest Gilmore, Executive Director
