Key Lesson from Muhammad Karuo’s Drug Recovery Journey

“Eventually, Muhammad decided he wanted something different.  After connecting with GLIDE’s Health Empowerment and Access Treatment (HEAT) Program, he began working with HEAT Coordinator Nathan Bronson. Nathan helped him get connected to resources, including Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) benefits, mailing address, and treatment services. “

From Drug Dependency to Social Justice Advocacy in San Francisco

“What does GLIDE mean to me? When people ask what GLIDE has meant to me, I always come back to this: GLIDE will love you until you can love yourself. GLIDE meets you where you’re at and helps put you on a path toward a life that feels meaningful and worthwhile. I wholeheartedly recommend the Social Justice Academy to anyone interested in advocacy, leadership, and self-empowerment. It can transform how you see yourself. You go from being someone who feels invisible, someone people won’t even look in the eye, to recognizing the power of your own lived experience.”

How Chalu Banarsee Overcame Drug Dependency with help from GLIDE

Chalu Banarsee doesn’t tell his story in a straight line. He starts in Guyana — singing in church as a kid — and then you’re in Brooklyn, then on tour, then deep in the streets of San Francisco. Then he circles back. Faith, music, survival, loss, all layered together. But one thing comes through clearly: he’s still here. And there were moments when that wasn’t guaranteed. “I’ve been cut, stabbed, punched, beat, poisoned,” he says. “I’ve died seven times.”