A Legacy of Compassion
Since 1987, your support has enabled Maitri to evolve from a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis into a model provider of 24-hour specialized nursing care. Explore our journey and see how your commitment continues to sustain a sanctuary of dignity and compassion in the heart of San Francisco.
O U R H I S T O R Y
How Our Compassionate Care Grew
The story of Maitri is a testament to the power of a community that refuses to look away. In 1987, at the height of the AIDS crisis, Issan Dorsey, a teacher at the Hartford Street Zen Center, opened its doors to a student who was homeless and dying of AIDS.
That small gesture soon grew into an eight-bed hospice in the heart of the Castro. During a time of immense loss, the generosity of the community created a sanctuary of compassion for a community ravaged by the epidemic.
As the dynamics of the epidemic shifted, community support helped Maitri grow and adapt. In 1997, we doubled our capacity and relocated to our current state-licensed, custom-designed facility at Church and Duboce. Our Board of Directors was recognized with the Citibank Community Stewardship Award for this project. With new medications, Maitri clients began to recover their health through our compassionate care. And in 2002, we began offering short-term respite care.
In 2019, we began providing ongoing BRANCH Aftercare to support former clients living in the community and help them stay healthy and independent for as long as possible. And in 2021, we dedicated 1 of our 15 rooms to supporting the transgender and gender-diverse community through our Maitri Affirmation Center Program.
Today, your gifts ensure Maitri remains at the forefront of clinically excellent, compassionate care. More than 80% of our clients now come to us for short-term respite care or gender-affirmation recovery. Because of you, we continue to expand our care to best support our community and clients because no one should have to suffer, transition, or die alone.
O U R F O U N D E R
The person who started it all
Described as “magnetic, magnanimous, and luminous,” Issan (Tommy) Dorsey, the colorful founder of Maitri, created a caring community for hundreds of people with AIDS, and left behind a legacy of wisdom and compassion that continues to inspire us today. Issan himself died at Maitri of AIDS-related lymphoma in 1990.
From a complicated background marked with substance misuse to Zen master and drag queen, Issan’s life reflected his innate ability to “charm people senseless.” He left a group of followers devoted to dealing with whatever came to the door. “We started the hospice because death came to the door.”
For more details about Issan’s life, see Street Zen by David Schneider.
“AIDS wakes us up to the fact that life is fatal. It’s not AIDS that’s fatal, if you have AIDS, you’re alive.”
— Issan Dorsey
T H E M A I T R I M U R A L
Capturing the beauty of our community
Maitri’s forthcoming “Never Alone Mural” by renowned San Francisco artist Serge Gay Jr. is meant to tell the story of our shared community story.
It starts by celebrating Maitri’s building’s legacy as The New Mint Garage. The mural continues to tell the impact of HIV/AIDS had upon our community displaying the courage, loss, and resistance of Duboce Triangle.
From Serge himself, “I want to portray this beautiful surrealist mural that showcases a community who cares for each other and looks after each other. The embodiment that is Maitri and Duboce. Showing love, caring for, and friendship to the ones in need of care, till their last days. That you’re not alone. I want to make a mural that celebrates being alive and hopefulness. ‘May all be free from suffering and the causes of suffering.'”
We are so grateful of our partnership with the Castro Community Benefit District and The Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association, and of course Serge Gay Jr. for our beautiful mural! Maitri’s “Never Alone” Mural was created with support from the San Francisco Arts Commission.