Since 2001

From pizza to a movement

One night in June 2001, Pastor Tony Gapastione and a few church interns noticed hungry people near a Menlo Park train station and brought them pizza and offered to pray for them. The relationship continued through the summer, until the interns left for school — Tony realized there was a need, and with the help of members from Peninsula Covenant Church, kept bringing meals and assisting those in need as best he could.

In 2007, what Tony started was entrusted to David Shearin, the current pastor. In 2012, Street Life Ministries became an established 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Today, due to the help of many people, SLM serves over 30,000 meals a year, four nights a week, in Menlo Park and Redwood City, and provides additional assistance offering clothes, medical supplies, and coordination with other organizations to help find shelter and rehabilitation services.

Every meal has always been an opening for real relationship — the kind that leads to clothing, medical care, housing referrals, and recovery. With Freedom House, our new twelve-month residential recovery program, we're building the next chapter: a full bridge from the street to a lasting home.