Volunteering

We rely on a team of dedicated volunteers to assist us in providing an array of services:

  • Legal assistance
  • Asylum applications and consultations
  • Interpretation and translation (spoken and written)
  • Fundraising and social events
  • Administrative duties, marketing support, research, etc.
  • Advocate on behalf of our cause on social media and in your community
  • Donate professional or promotional services (such as printing, online support, event venues, food and beverage, advertising, and printing)


We are always looking for new volunteers and you do not need to have experience to participate. We will provide a short training!

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Stop by for Volunteer Day
We invite all current and new volunteers to join us at our Castro office for Volunteer Day!
Please submit volunteer inquiries by emailing us at info@cipsf.org for more information.

Asylum Advocates

Asylum Advocates are volunteers who have supported The LGBT Asylum Project for many years. We are proud to honor their long-term support. We could not do our life-saving work without them.

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Colin Gallagher

Colin is an LGBT activist and an attorney. He represents injured workers in workers’ compensation claims filed in California. He has been a certified specialist in workers’ compensation since 2009 and has over 15 years’ experience having represented employers and insurance carriers in workers’ compensation cases. In his spare time, he is a marathon runner.

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Rod Finetti

Rod is a Planning Analyst and Project Manager for the San Francisco Human Services Agency - or as his wife likes to describe him, a starry-eyed bureaucrat à la Leslie Knope of the TV show Parks and Rec. Rod also serves as the president of the board of Community Awareness and Treatment Services, one of the oldest and most central behavioral health treatment organizations in the city for homeless persons. He has a J.D. from Golden Gate University and prior to working for the City, worked in grant and contract management at UCSF, as well as at La Raza Centro Legal, where he provided legal advocacy services to low-income immigrants. He is passionate about serving the public interest, with a particular commitment for immigrant and LGBT rights.

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Jim Soos

 Jim Soos has been a proud volunteer at the LGBT Asylum Project since October 2019. He
appreciates working with clients as well as helping the Asylum Project with behind the scenes
projects. Jim has a bachelors degree in Sociology from the University of Michigan and masters
degrees in Public Health and Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. After
working for 27 years in public health and health care administration, Jim retired in 2018 and has
been looking for meaningful ways to spend his time. He is an immigrant from Canada and his
husband is an immigrant from Turkey, so he is sensitive to the need for just and compassionate
immigration policy.

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Mel Stenger

 Mel Stenger is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio. After coming out he moved to the
San Francisco Bay Area and worked in health insurance. Disillusioned with the
corporate world, he became an elementary educator with degrees and credentials in
Multiple Subjects and School Administration. He has taught high school, middle
school, elementary, and graduate school, and has been an elementary principal. He
has been with his partner since 1982 and were among the first to adopt infants
through Alameda County. Their two sons are now adults. After his retirement in
2017, Mel continues to indulge his lifelong passions of gardening, singing (with
the Golden Gate Men's Chorus) and cooking fabulous dinners, and pursuing new
interests in Country Western dancing and photography. He has volunteered with
the LGTB Asylum Project since October, 2019.

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  • Clark Ludlow