“No man stands taller than when he reaches down on one knee to help someone else up.” - Mayor Gavin Newsom, Speaking to Project Homeless Connect Volunteers at the Bill Graham Auditorium.

On June 9, 2006, over 1,500 volunteers got down on their knees to lift up, if even for one moment, over 2300 homeless people at the City’s 11th Project Homeless Connect (PHC). Every two months this citywide event brings city agencies and nonprofits together into the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium to help homeless clients. Every PHC is bigger than the last, and each embodies the passion, spirit, and determination of the amazing people—both clients and volunteers—of San Francisco.

Since December 2005, we have volunteered in PHC’s Legal and ID Areas, which VLSP coordinates. In the Legal Area, volunteer attorneys conduct intake with PHC clients and provide consultations. We simply ask, “Why do you need to talk to a lawyer?” The answers and stories evoked by this question are complex and reveal the pain, frustration, grief, and anger that our clients battle on a daily basis.

Pete*, who has lived in San Francisco since 1979, had been personal trainer at Gold’s Gym in the Castro and was in peak physical condition. However, when Pete was diagnosed with AIDS and then prostate cancer, everything changed. Pete’s former roommate had stolen all of his possessions, valued in the thousands of dollars. He had a strong legal claim. Another client, Joseph*, was being rushed by his brother to the hospital for a complication related to his diabetes, when they were pulled over for having an expired registration and the police impounded their car. Joseph’s medication was locked in the trunk, and although an ambulance took him to the hospital, the officers would not allow him to get his medication out of the car. Both Pete and Joe received some legal counseling at PHC.

By Psyche Philips, VLSP Program Administrator

Volunteer attorney Andrew Ogilvie cannot remember how he heard about the Volunteer Legal Services Program, but he knows that “it was more than 20 years ago.” In his long history of volunteering for VLSP, Andrew has helped many clients stay afloat; one of his VLSP debt collection cases even went to the California Supreme Court. “The bank was obstinate, I was tenacious, and the client had faith,” he remembers about that particular trial. Andrew Ogilvie is July’s Volunteer of the Month because of his dedication to pro bono work and long-standing commitment to helping low-income clients through VLSP’s Consumer Project.

VLSP’s Consumer Project helps clients out of the cycle of poverty through effective budgeting and bankruptcy advice, collection defense, and education on consumer scams.

Andrew says that his most recent case through VLSP is “an example of one of thousands of cases that come through San Francisco every year,” in which companies literally buy debt from creditors and demand immediate payment from the consumer. “These debt buying companies only have a print-out with the consumer’s information and a dollar amount, and they are often unable to prove their case in court when challenged,” Andrew says. Most of the time, consumers lose these cases because they cannot afford a lawyer, and there currently aren’t enough pro bono attorneys to meet the demand. “The bank plays a very technical game and you have to play it too. Having an attorney balances the system out for clients who don’t know consumer law.”

“It’s always interesting to deal with pro bono clients,” Andrew observes. “Sometimes there are language barriers, and it often takes more time to get them to understand the legal process than my corporate clients, but they are always the most appreciative.”