Braid
three or more intertwined threads woven together to make something strong and beautiful
Inspired by the resilience of youth who overcame the challenges of foster care, and the caring adults who helped them along the way, Rebecca Edwards and Christopher Chase founded Braid Mission in 2014. The mission of Braid is to empower volunteers to help heal the wounds of foster care through meaningful relationships. We train and connect adults to support foster youth using a team-based, holistic mentoring model.
The Braid Mission tapestry is composed of three main threads:
Foundation: Remain firmly rooted in love
Braid Mission believes that love is the energy that brings us together, heals the wounds of foster care, and restores a person’s sense of worth, value, and self.
Action: Support the foster youth of San Francisco
Braid Mission is a non-profit organization whose intergenerational mentoring program is designed to support Bay Area youth who have experienced life in the foster care system.
Invitation: Build deep relationships
Braid Mission is a spiritual movement where you can discover your potential to transform others’ lives and find your own life transformed.
Our City
San Francisco’s unique economic climate places additional pressures on the foster system. The city’s high cost of living makes it difficult for families to afford an extra bedroom in which to house foster youth. As a result, over 70% of San Francisco foster youth are placed outside the city. Shuffled from placement to placement far from the city they call home, foster youth of San Francisco seldom remain in the same school or with the same friends for long. The cycle of loss and transience that all foster youth experience is especially profound in San Francisco.
Our Team
Christopher Chase and Rebecca Edwards
co-directors |Rebecca Edwards and Christopher Chase are the co-founders of Braid Mission. With over 40 years of combined leadership experience as ministers in The Episcopal Church, including youth ministry and church planting, they were inspired to build a new community where people of all backgrounds work together to support and empower youth.
Lisa Gonzalez
administrator | Lisa feels energized to be working with Braid Mission as a part-time administrator. In her off time, she enjoys RV-ing in a big aluminum tube on wheels with her family all over the country (an Airstream trailer). She also appreciates the many joys of being a grandparent, playing with her young granddaughters and watching them grow!
Barbara Ludlum
Cards of Hope coordinator |Barbara retired as a finance executive at KQED public broadcasting. When not writing cards and letters, she is a rabid knitter and has a passion for travel and trekking. Barbara has sent dozens of Cards of Hope over the last couple of years, and she is looking forward to helping you put *your* hope in the mail!
Jessica Barber
team facilitator | Jessica is a lawyer, but she loves having fun too. She likes to bake and decorate cupcakes, loves shopping for fruits and vegetables at the market, likes walking the city and adventuring around town, and loves being active (playing sports that she’s not good at!).
Davidson Bidwell-Waite
team facilitator | Davidson is a deacon in the Episcopal Church. His work career included jobs in city government, legal practice, and management. In his retirement, he spends his time working against gun and police violence and human trafficking, and in support of foster youth and Haiti. He loves ballet and traveling and walking around the City.
Krystle Chow
team facilitator | Krystle is an accountant and lives in San Francisco with her awesome cat. She is happy to be part of the Braid community and support youth in foster care which is a cause dear to her heart. She enjoys trying new recipes, doing Pilates, learning about music, hiking, beaches, and listening to audiobooks.
Wendy Cliff
team facilitator | Wendy Cliff is a fourth generation Bay Area resident, wife, and mother, with a background in marketing and education. She is ordained in the Episcopal Church, works for education equity, and loves interfaith dialogue.
Anne Cockle
team facilitator | Anne lives in Berkeley with her husband, son, cat and dog. She does not work outside the home these days but keeps busy with her son, volunteering at school and managing the home. She likes to have meals with her friends/family, spending time with her animals and being outside in garden, walking or bike riding.
Susan DePriest 
team facilitator | Susan has a background in social work and is currently working on her masters in communication and leadership at Gonzaga. She is passionate about the values of empowerment, social justice, and the fight against human trafficking. She lives in Pacifica with her husband and three children. She enjoys hiking, spending time with friends and family and is a faithful Bay Area Sports fan – Giants, 49ers, and Warriors.
Sally Durgan 
team facilitator | Sally has managed programs in health care, education and other nonprofit organizations. She enjoys baking, yoga, singing and reading. She is interested in interfaith exploration (both spiritual and religious) and agrees with author Karen Armstrong that “compassion is a practically acquired knowledge, like dancing. You must do it and practice diligently day by day.” She lives in San Francisco with her tortoiseshell cat.
Tami Fisher
team facilitator | Tami lives in Pacifica and works as a lawyer in San Francisco. She enjoys art, reading (especially graphic novels), and baking.
Regina Fletcher 
team facilitator | Regina is a teacher turned relationship coach who provides academic support to kids in foster care and social confidence building skills to grownups looking for friendship and romance. She loves to do circus arts, pet dogs and meet new people.
Bob Kossler
team facilitator | Bob is an Associate Priest at St. Francis Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Bob is also an Engineering Director at Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Bob brings over 15 years of pastoral care experience to Braid Mission.
Claire Krukowski
team facilitator | Claire moved to San Francisco from Michigan in 2015. Since she has lived in San Francisco, she has worked for San Francisco Unified School District supporting special education teachers in their professional growth through professional development and one-on-one coaching. While in the Bay Area, she enjoys evenings at the Exploratorium, walks through Golden Gate Park, reading and spending time with friends. Her favorite thing to do is traveling to different locations and learning about what makes them special.
Efrat Libkind
team facilitator | Efrat lives in San Francisco by the ocean and loves to go on long walks along the beach. She loves small furry animals like rabbits and chinchillas, watching funny comedies, and reading science fiction books.
Allegra Mautner
team facilitator | Allegra is an arborist who owns her own tree care business in San Francisco. She lives in the Mission with her partner and a grey cat. She loves to walk and bike around the city exploring new scenes and plants. Allegra enjoys playing board games and going to the botanical garden with her friends. She cares deeply for her family, both born and found, and believes deeply in fostering those sorts of connections in our society.
Suchi O’Connor
team facilitator | Suchi moved to San Francisco from the east coast in 2011 and fell in love with the city. After spending a decade in marketing and sales management, she recently shifted her focus to parenting and family support services. Suchi enjoys volunteering and currently serves on the board of directors of San Francisco Court Appointed Special Advocates. She likes spending time outdoors with her husband and daughter, playing board games, cooking, and traveling.
Carol Passmore
team facilitator | Carol just moved to San Francisco last year after working as 20+ years as a psychotherapist in Connecticut. She is married and a mother of two adult sons who she hopes will follow her out here! She has recently launched an online parenting coaching business during the pandemic. She loves children and helping parents navigate the tricky world of parenting!
Lila Rasekh
team facilitator | Lila lives in San Francisco and works as the director of analytic consulting at FICO, providing consulting service to the financial industry. She enjoys traveling, hiking, biking, yoga, art, music, reading books and watching movies.
Emily Salman
team facilitator | Emily works in finance as a sales manager in the Financial District. She enjoys yoga, running, watching football, and playing with her dog.
Nupur Sharma
team facilitator | Nupur is a Senior Manager with Accenture focused on helping tech companies drive change. She loves yoga, meditation, dance, and plants.
Mike Thomas
team facilitator | Mike lives in Marin and is retired after working for 40 years as a counselor, teacher, and coach at St. Ignatius School. He spends time volunteering at Guide Dogs for the Blind, in a first grade class at Vallecito School, and as a coach at Hamilton Meadow School. He loves to run, mountain bike, play tennis, and play basketball when he is not helping to care for his two grandchildren, Teddy and Sloane.
Mees Tielens
team facilitator | Mees grew up in the Netherlands and moved to the Bay Area in 2016. He lives on the Peninsula with his husband and daughter. Mees has a Ph.D. in American religion, is active in the Episcopal Church, and is a stay-at-home dad. He likes to read, ride his bike, and make food for other people.
Barie Wolf-Bowen
team facilitator | Barie moved to San Francisco in 2011 as an AmeriCorps member and decided to stay and make it her permanent home. She has held many roles in the nonprofit world and is currently an analyst at the UCSF Foundation. In her free time she likes to explore nature, go to art shows, see live music, and practice yoga.