We See You San Diego is quietly scaling up a relationship-based recovery effort at its weekly Tuesday dinners, piloting an expansion of the Lucky Duck Foundation’s Be A Friend program and training everyday neighbors to walk alongside people who are newly in recovery. The pilot, which began this fall with an ambassador placement, has already led to several one‑on‑one matches, and organizers say they want to push the model further next year to reach more people still living on the streets.
As reported by ABC 10News, We See You’s executive director Laura Chez said the pilot launched in September with Paige Englehorn serving as the program ambassador, while Lucky Duck Foundation’s Be A Friend director Jen Weck outlined the volunteer training. The outlet reported that the pilot has helped create 12 volunteer–participant friendships so far, and Englehorn said her own recovery, sober since July 2024 according to the story, is what shaped her decision to get involved.
How the pilot works
The Be A Friend model pairs trained volunteers with people who are at risk of or exiting homelessness to build steady, supportive friendships while navigating treatment and housing systems. According to the Lucky Duck Foundation, volunteers complete step‑by‑step training and then work with participants on individualized goal plans and practical day‑to‑day support. The focus is on relationships that last, not one‑off acts of charity, and the foundation says the program is already in use across multiple service providers countywide.
A personal path to recovery
Paige Englehorn told ABC 10News that We See You helped connect her to detox and that having a friend outside formal services was “priceless.” Her experience is the core of the pitch from program organizers: when someone is unsure about treatment, a trusted volunteer who shows up again and again can tip the balance toward saying yes. We See You uses its weekly dinner parties as a low‑pressure way to start those introductions and then offers tailored paths into detox, residential recovery and sober living.
Funding and capacity
Lucky Duck has been steering donations toward both pieces of the puzzle, relationship‑building and treatment capacity. Its donor updates say the foundation helped activate 22 new Medi‑Cal detox beds and committed funds to job training, inclement‑weather sheltering and outreach. Those additions are expected to push county Medi‑Cal detox capacity from about 79 beds to roughly 123, a meaningful bump that organizers argue needs to be paired with wraparound supports like Be A Friend. The foundation frames the volunteer program as one half of a two‑part strategy: connect people to treatment and simultaneously expand the beds and services ready to receive them.
How to get involved and what’s next
We See You San Diego hosts weekly dinner parties at rotating locations and invites volunteers, churches and service groups to sign up through the nonprofit’s website, which explains the dinner model and outlines volunteer roles. Per We See You San Diego, the dinners are intentionally convivial so guests can relax, build trust and consider individualized recovery options that include detox, residential programs and sober living. Organizers say the pilot will test whether this friendship‑first approach can nudge more people into treatment and, if it works, be adapted to other outreach hubs across the county.
For now, the effort remains deliberately small and close to home: a circle of volunteers, a handful of matches and a donor base trying to shore up treatment capacity. If the pilot produces measurable exits from the streets, program leaders say it could offer a low‑barrier complement to clinical interventions that have struggled to keep up with demand.
