SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – We See You San Diego is getting ready for its Tuesday dinner for the unhoused.
But, there's something new being served by the local profit helping those experiencing homelessness and battling addiction.
"These people are still so special and still so loved, and they just need someone to show them that,” Paige Englehorn, Be A Friend Program Ambassador for We See You San Diego, said.
Englehorn and We See You are doing that with the pilot expansion of the Lucky Duck Foundation's Be a Friend program.
“We initially partnered with We See You San Diego in early 2024, and this year they are in phase one of piloting the Be a Friend program,” Jen Weck, Director of the Be a Friend Program with Lucky Duck Foundation, said.
"We started the pilot program with Paige as the ambassador from the Be a Friend program in September of 2025,” Laura Chez, Executive Director of We See You San Diego, said.
The Be a Friend program pairs volunteers with people who are unhoused to help them navigate out of homelessness.
"So, we are training community volunteers to walk alongside someone who has been unstably housed and is now in recovery through We See You San Diego,” Weck said.
Englehorn has been sober since July 2024 and was at one point homeless in San Diego. She said she encountered We See You San Diego which helped her get into detox.
Having these kinds of relationships on her journey to sobriety made a huge impact.
"When I first got sober, I didn't have anyone. I had just caused so much pain and just destruction in my life,” Englehorn said. "Just having someone who that's not your caseworker, not your parent, not your, you know, other family member, it's just honestly a friend, a friend that is putting in the work and wants to get to know more about you and be there for you, and it's priceless."
So far, they've been able to create 12 friendships, and next year they've got even bigger plans.
"We're going to extend it to people that are still living on the streets,” Englehorn said. "And it could make all the difference in the world, and it could make the difference of that person deciding to say yes and leave the streets and addiction behind."
And being someone’s friend in their darkest of times can be the start of that journey.
"We are all together reversing the crisis in our city by loving people the way that we so long to be loved as human beings,” Chez said.
