January, 2007

Dear Faithful and Generous Friends and Fools,

We want to take this moment to express our gratitude for your commitment, and hopefully your delight in supporting Faithful Fools Street Ministry. There are not enough words or photos to describe all that takes place in one day or one year within Faithful Fools, but we can tell stories with the hope that they will reveal to each of you that your donations made a difference for one year more in an important ministry.

Many of you remember Steven, a man with great heart and wit whom we have companioned since our beginning days on the streets. This past summer Steven was diagnosed with cancer. His doctors told him he was in for a battle that would be tougher than any he has ever known. As we write this letter there are many in the Fool’s family - Quentin, Kaye, Andy, Barbara, Denís, Alejandra, Melissa, Kay and Carmen - who are accompanying him through his last days, being with him 24 hours a day in the hospital. Steven often said to us, “you are the best friends I’ve ever had, and I really mean it!”

While some of us are accompanying Steven, Alex Darr, Susan Knutson, Melissa Fafarman, Kurt Kuhwald and JD Benson and many other Fools have accompanied 70+ youth on street retreats as part of their “Coming of Age” program. Melissa, Denís, JD and others were part of the circle of adults who “shadowed” the youth and reflected with them on their experience of walking the streets with the mantra, “What holds us separated? What keeps us separate? As we walk the streets, what still connects us?” The street retreats, both one-day and seven-day continue to be an essential practice for us as Faithful Fools. This year we hosted a retreat for students from Japan and Korea who were doing a course on urban issues at Stanford. And 8th graders from Julia Morgan School in Oakland inspired us once again with their insight and reflections after a street retreat. Since the first street retreat in 1998 more than 1800 people have made retreats with us in the Tenderloin. This year Alex Darr also led retreats in Detroit, St. Louis, and Sacramento.

Also this week Keith Walker, our “temple keeper”, led a 6 hour meditation, which we do every third Friday, in addition to the regular daily schedule of meditation. This year we moved our Street Zendo/Meditation Room to a newly remodeled space, and we were honored to have Sojun Mel Wetsman, Keith’s teacher, and abbot of the Berkeley Zen Center, lead us in the dedication of the new space. The fresh rose petals that were strewn around the room as part of the blessing felt like they were fluttering from the hearts of all of us gathered. The room is beautiful.

Martha Boesing works faithfully at booking and directing the play, THE WITNESS. This year there were about 20 performances within California, as well as traveling to St. Louis, Reno, and Ludington, MI. We welcome Sarah Weidman who has become the third person to perform THE WITNESS. Rebecca Noon performed the play for four years and now has flown across the ocean to London to study for a Masters. Martha also performed this past year her newest play, SONG OF THE MAGPIE. It is a magnificent play that Martha wrote after making the 7-day street retreat two years ago. She loves to perform it in people’s living rooms, so don’t hesitate to call her.

Down the Pacific shoreline a piece are the Faithful Fools of Nicaragua, Los Bufones Fieles. Heidi Meza has given her life to the founding and running of a primary school for children in the barrio where she and her husband Max live. Working in the midst of electricity and water shortage, and scarce resources she says, “I do it for the love of the Art.” Then there is Mercedes who is the keeper of the Fool’s Court in the barrio. Mercedez not only prepares the Court for groups of children who receive music lessons each week, she is also the promoter of classes for women and girls who are pregnant or are new mothers. $11,000 has helped pay the salaries for eight teachers, paid Mercedes a stipend, and supported the upkeep of Fool’s Court and Heidi’s primary school. Max, Heidi, Mercedez and Manuel are the coordinating team for Faithful Fools Nicaragua.

At any given moment in our rich life as Faithful Fools, Ed Bowers, Ramu Aki and Charles Blackwell, together with other neighborhood poets can be found in the Fool’s Court at open-mic poetry readings, while Brian Darr inspires all with movies he shows at a monthly movie night. Thomas Atwood, Alex Darr and Melissa Fafarman, together with their clowns, Alfonso, Afraid and Felicity can be seen raising the glee in the neighborhood as they entertain children at Tenderloin festivities. Anton Jungherr, our business manager (who works for $1 a year) is generous and supportive beyond measure. He works with faithful Daisy Xie, our accountant/bookkeeper and literally they take care of business. Sr. Ade Kroll is faithfully keeping the “Universe Story”, (31embroidered panels made by the Kopanang women in South Africa), touring educational, community and religious centers throughout the U.S. Denís Paul and Laurel Liefert, have faithfully accompanied the Thursday morning Bible Study and join in the generosity and hard work that meets us each morning. Richard Nichols and Mark Bigelow can be found working away in the Fool’s Copy Shop, and being an important and up-beat presence in this neighborhood where people appreciate being greeted and welcomed. Galen Workman is the man behind our web page, donating his services and keeping web surfers up to date on the life of the Fools. To add to the life in motion there are people answering ringing phones and doorbells, or walking (sometimes running) with people to the methadone clinic, housing appointments, food bank, medical exams and the social security office. No dust settles under our feet. Meg Whitaker Green, and sometimes her clown, Entonces, is faithfully marching for peace, protesting the death penalty, or meeting with political leaders. Meg is also a magnificent photographer and has exhibited many of her photos that she has taken in Nicaragua and on the streets of the Tenderloin. Andrea Jorgensen is an invaluable creative force and organizer behind the monthly art exhibits in our lobby, and behind feasts and fundraisers that nourish souls with exquisite food and ambiance. It is Andrea’s artistic eye and understanding heart that designs our newsletters and brochures. Carmen and Kay continue to live at the Fool’s Court, making it a home, while they write grants, lead worship services, accompany people to and from the streets, install new ministers, write letters of recommendations, mentor interns, form a family with Alejandra from Nicaragua and Heather the cat, and try their darnedest to juggle all the balls in the air right along with the rest of the faithful fools.

This is only a little of what you have been a part of with your monthly pledges and donations, and we thank you. Many of you also volunteer time as we hold fundraisers and monthly events. It is all of us together who are the workers and visionaries of Faithful Fools. We want to extend a special thank you to all who were a part of helping us meet a $25,000 matching grant which was offered by an anonymous donor to help reduce a loan we have on the our building. We did it! With the challenge appeal we brought in $40,000 allowing us to pay $65,000 and reduce our monthly payments by $2086. That’s more money for programs and people!

Now we are into another year. We hope that you will continue to find delight and inspiration in supporting our work. It is with this letter that we hope you know you have made a difference and have contributed to a lot of life, and a lot of lives.

Faithfully,

Kay and Carmen and all the Fools

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