Staff Spotlight: Susan Neff

How did you come to be at Family House?

In 2006, I was introduced to Family House by a Kathleen Toney, who was Board Chair at the time. I knew her as a friend and from community relations at our church in San Rafael - St. Raphael’s Church. Alexandra, the Family House CEO, had expressed desire to hire a development person for Family House. Kathleen directed Alexandra to my work at St. Raphael’s, where I was their Development Director. Alexandra and I met each other at Kathleen’s home and hit it off perfectly! We have a lot in common which then led to my working at Family House starting in July of 2006.

How has Family House changed since you first started?

Family House has grown—exponentially. In 2006, we only had one Volunteer Coordinator - part-time - and we didn’t have much of a database. We started with Donor Perfect (our old database program) soon after I joined the Family House team. We had no website, no Facebook following, and we just had the one small room for the three of us in the business office. We had about five people on staff and now we have more than doubled in size. Our database, donors, and families served has quadrupled in numbers; our general operating budget has expanded from under one million to [when we get to Mission Bay] 2.5 million. Our endowment has developed from 1.3 million to now over 5 million dollars.

What are some of your favorite Family House memories?

One of my favorite memories is when we used to all be in the small office, and one of the families staying here had a set of twin girls and a boy, and the kids would get so bored they would come down to the office and help us file. We were so behind on our filing that the kids would come help us, but in order to file, you have to know the alphabet! Since that was a little difficult for them, I made a poster for the kids to use as a reference, and it was so adorable. This particular family was here for months and it was just precious that the kids came down to the office to help us. My favorite administration memories come from kids who are staying with us coming down and hanging out with us in the office. 

 Contact Susan at http://www.familyhouseinc.org/staff.html