Spider-Man and Spider Gwen Visit

Thank you to Spider-Man and Spider-Gwen from Heart of a Hero for spending a morning at Family House! You brought wagons full of toys for the kids and made lots of new friends! And thank you to the volunteers from Compass for helping to pass out toys, make Spidey-themed arts and crafts, and kick off a fun morning for everyone! Thank you to the volunteers for bringing such positive energy and joy to Family House, making everyone smile!!

Click here to see photos of the event.

Easter Party 2019

Thank you to everyone who helped make this year’s Easter Party so much fun: Bobby the Bunny and friends, Salesforce, the San Francisco Police Department, BayKids Studios, community volunteers, and donors! It takes everyone’s support to put on fun holiday parties like this, so Family House families can relax and enjoy a bit of home while they stay here in San Francisco, and we are grateful to each of you!

See Easter Party photos at https://www.facebook.com/pg/FamilyHouseSanFrancisco/photos/?tab=album&album_id=10161549791340277

National Volunteer Week 2019

To the amazing volunteers at Family House!

I want to take this moment to say thank you for all that you do for our families. With this week being National Volunteer Week, I want to reflect on how meaningful your service is, day in and day out. There are never enough hours in the day, but you, our volunteers, are able to donate your time and efforts to support families in crisis. Whether it's helping serve breakfast each morning; bringing your therapy dog for support; keeping the house disinfected; providing a beautiful family dinner; and everything in between, we absolutely could not provide the level of support that we do without our incredible volunteers.

Last year, we had over 4,200 volunteers support Family House (that is a staff-to-volunteer ratio of 1:140) and the impact is measured not just in numbers, but through the magic and love that is felt every day when you walk through the doors. We know there so many amazing nonprofits out there and you choose to help us. We are incredibly grateful for the love and support you bring to Family House. Thank you on behalf of Family House.

With Love and Appreciation,
Karen Banks

Spring Has Sprung... Kind of!

Spring Has Sprung... Kind of!
by Elan Slavin, MSW

As we head into April, we’re experiencing a few more precious moments of sunshine than last month.  Our California reservoirs are filled to the brim, but the rain keeps coming. Here are a few suggestions of how to take advantage of the few moments of sunshine.

Maybe start your own veggie garden or plant a few flowers to tend to.  It doesn’t have to be much.  It might be fun to take care of them and watch them grow!

Take a walk or a stroll around your neighborhood.  Take notice of how all of the recent rain has made everything so green!!!

And when the rain just won’t stop:

It might be time to let go of some of our well-used and well-loved items and do some [more] spring cleaning. Sometimes it’s more difficult for parents than kids to go through well-loved clothes that no longer fit or toys that no longer are age appropriate and say goodbye. Spring cleaning is a wonderful time to also model for our kids how to “pay it forward.”

 

A suggestion: Meet your child in their space like a bedroom, or wherever your child keeps his or her things. Go through each piece of clothing or each toy with your child.  Together, offer that item a hug of gratitude for bringing them comfort, joy, and wonderful memories and decide to donate! Maybe suggest to your child the idea that perhaps someone they know or someone they don’t know could use something THEY loved and used.  You can explain that “paying it forward” would mean giving away something that meant something to you might benefit someone else. Again, letting go is hard, but what a great opportunity to model compassion.

April Rain Song by Langston Hughes

 

Let the rain kiss you

Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops

Let the rain sing you a lullaby

 

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk

The rain makes running pools in the gutter

The rain plays a little sleep-song on our roof at night-

 

And I love the rain

24th Annual Cabernet for Connoisseurs

The 24th Annual Cabernet for Connoisseurs raised more funds than ever before to support families of children with life-threatening illnesses! Thank you to the event committee, led by co-chairs Scott Miller and Jeff Smith; the 38 Napa and Sonoma vintners who poured incredible wines; Chef Mourad Lahlou for cooking an amazing dinner; entertainer Kelly James; auctioneer Charles Antin; the 100+ volunteers who helped make it all happen; and to the many, MANY generous donors who made this the most successful Family House fundraiser yet!

Rain Rain Go Away - Rainy Day Activities

Rain! Rain! Go away! Come again some other day…!

While the rain is a good thing for our beloved state and our all-to empty reservoirs, it may be keeping us (and our kids) in doors more than usual. UGH! What to do???

Since Spring is most definitely in the air, maybe it’s time to start some Spring cleaning? Maybe it’s time to renew or reboot some family rituals that may have been delegated to that “back burner.” Here are a few suggestions that may help to make these rainy days a bit more fun.

Spring Cleaning!

Have a quick family meeting. Decide on a few things:

1.       Come to a consensus (as best you can) on which room in your home could really use a thorough cleaning.

2.       Decide who gets to choose the FIRST song that’s played as you clean.  Singing while you clean makes it so much more fun and way more time efficient. Make sure to alternate the family member who gets to choose the song so everyone has fun! Before you know it, the room you chose to clean is spotless and it’s on to the next one!

3.       Make clear what each family members responsibility is while cleaning

4.       Provide safe and easy to use cleaning materials and….

5.       BLAST THE MUSIC-and HAVE FUN!!!

Simon Says - Reboot Family Game Night! 

This might be a fun, indoor, rainy-day game for kids and parents of all abilities. One person is designated “Simon.” (It may be fun to use your child’s name like, “Sarah says”, or “Jonathan says” if they are directing the game) Remember how it’s played?

1.       One person is designated “Simon”, the others are players.

2.       Standing (or sitting) in front of the group, “Simon” tells players what they must do. However, the players must only obey commands that begin with the words “Simon Says.”

3.       Example: If Simon says, “Simon says blink your eyes” then the players must blink their eyes.  But if Simon says, “blink your eyes” and the players obey that command, they’re out of the game.  Why? Because “Simon” didn’t say “Simon Says.”

(Re)Create a Bedtime Ritual

 If you haven’t already, or are in need of something new, create a bedtime routine for yourself and/ or for your child in order to prepare for bed each night. You can get creative and make it work for you. Maybe at a certain time of night, all screens get powered down, and relaxing music is put on at a low volume. Or maybe after your child takes a bath, you meet on your bed for story-time. Or while your child is preparing for bed, you take 5 minutes and take a few deep breaths and offer yourself a hug filled with deep gratitude for having made it through another day.  Sometimes a new ritual or a small change to an old one can be just the thing to make our lives feel a bit refreshed and renewed.

What are your ideas for beating the rainy day blues?

Hops for Housing 2019

Thank you to the Sirwisa Brewing Collective for once again choosing Family House to be the beneficiary of your SF Beer Week event - Hops for Housing! Sirwisa home brewers formed teams with professional brewers to make unique brews not available anywhere else! Combined with the great performance by Soul Ska, this was the don't-miss Beer Week event!
See more photos