Danielle Steel quietly funded San Francisco homeless outreach for 11 years

For 11 years, bestselling author Danielle Steel quietly funded an outreach operation that brought practical supplies directly to people experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. Every three weeks, a 12-person team set out in four trucks carrying warm clothing, rain gear, sleeping bags, tarps, hygiene products and packaged food that did not need cooking or refrigeration. The rounds were designed to support about 300 people at a time, for 10 months of each year, as per her website. Steel described the work as a “mission of love” on her foundation’s website, where she explained that the programme was run anonymously and paid for by her. The effort was organised through Yo! Angel!, a foundation she established to support street outreach. Its work has since been suspended because the cost became prohibitive.A personal commitmentSteel’s philanthropic work has long been shaped by her son, Nick Traina, who died in 1997.