For people dying on L.A. streets, he offers help, and he won’t take no for an answer
Anthony Ruffin has 20 or more clients he checks on regularly. They include the Hollywood 14, who are so sick — some of them are barely alive — and have been identified by community leaders as priorities.
Anthony Ruffin, 48, kneels to speak with a homeless man as he is sleeping on the sidewalk in Hollywood.
Ruffin goes out in the middle of the night because there are fewer distractions for people with severe mental illness.
In the pouring rain Anthony Ruffin, left, checks on one of his top 14 clients.
A man sitting on the sidewalk beneath a blanket tells Ruffin his name is “Blaze" and he needs help getting an identification card.
In pain, Eddie "Snake" Carter, a wheelchair-bound double amputee, sits outside Starbucks in Hollywood.
Ruffin, left, and Alan Wise Baker, right, help Johnny Popphan stand up in the pouring rain.
Ruffin finds Eddie "Snake" Carter in pain, sheltering under a bus stop.
A woman sleeps on the sidewalk in Hollywood. Ruffin carries a caseload of about 25 clients through Housing Works, including the Hollywood 14.
Monic Bell holds her dog Hades outside her tent in Hollywood. Bell is homeless and says she was in the foster system.
Ruffin kneels as he checks on a homeless woman sleeping on a bus bench in Hollywood.
Eddie “Snake" Carter sits in his new electric is a wheelchair, as outreach worker Anthony Ruffin, right, clasps his hand in joy at Housing Works in Hollywood.
Eddie "Snake"Carter tests out his new electric is a wheelchair, as outreach worker Anthony Ruffin walks along.
A homeless man sleeps on the steps of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Hollywood.
Ruffin checks a manhole on in Hollywood, after a homeless man popped up, then disappeared back underground.
A homeless woman who has lived in the same spot for 15 years, sleeps in Hollywood.
Outreach worker Anthony Ruffin helped a homeless man covered with sores and dried blood.
Ruffin, left with client Robert Blake, as he does his laundry in Hollywood.
With legs so swollen she can barely stand, Joanne Voiro says has been living on the street for four weeks.
A homeless man sleeps on a pile of trash in Hollywood.
