Family House has a staff of just 11 employees, and could not provide the services we do with the support of amazing volunteers. The heart and soul of Family House is the Operations team, who work directly with families and maintain both buildings. Operations volunteers, such as Alina Spring, are key in helping the staff with house projects. Alina is a USF Psychology Practicum student who volunteered for 100 hours this semester. She helped on a day-to-day basis with house projects, including daily laundry and assisting to manage volunteer groups. She was instrumental in helping complete projects that make the house functional at our 24-room location.
When Alina is not volunteering or working on school work, she enjoys bike riding, figure skating, hanging out with friends and listening to music. Born in Germany, Alina also speaks German, and understands cultural diversity - which is very helpful when working with families at Family House.
Alina, thank you for your willingness to take on any project and always with a smile on your face!
Thank you so much for your support at Family House!
As Memorial Day has just passed, it's a
good opportunity for us to reflect and say Thank You to all who have
made Family House possible for the last 33 years, and to those who are
ensuring our future at Mission Bay.
In the words of our founder,
Dr. Arthur Ablin, “The greatest thing in the world is to be able to do
something for somebody else.” Watch the new video:
We are at the mid-point of the Calling All Angels campaign (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels) right
now, and we ask that each of you tell 10 new friends about the campaign. If we could get them to each donate just $40, we
will exceed our goal! Your generosity is something to be proud of, and
together, we will build the new Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House!
You know by now that the members of Grammy-award-winning San Francisco band Train love Family House, and you know we love them even more!
These amazing individuals were looking for a SF children’s charity that they could get behind, and their search led them to us. Since then, they started the Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company, producing several different varietals, all of which have received accolades in international wine circles. Then they paired with the Ghiradelli Chocolate Company to create Save Me, San Francisco Chocolates - delicious flavors that pair great with wine! The proceeds from all of these products go to Family House and help families in their greatest time of need.
The money they have raised on our behalf will have a lasting legacy on the future of Family House - the Nancy & Stephen Grand Family House at Mission Bay will have a Train music room. Music heals, and this space will give kids a chance to be kids. We can’t wait for this!
But one of the things we love most about Train is that they really walk the walk. They don’t just sign checks, they are actively involved in our mission. Because of constant touring, they are rarely home in SF, but when they can, they always make a point to stop in at Family House to meet families and hang out. When they’re with us, they aren’t rockstars - they’re regular people who are part of the Family House family who want to know the stories, who want to meet the kids, who want to know what they can personally do to help. Incredible, right?
And they are putting all of their weight behind the Calling All Angels crowdfunding campaign at indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels Check out this great video that Pat recorded just last week!
We are so lucky that the guys in Train share their love with us! Share if you agree! #FHAngels
#FHAngels, all we can say is WOW! The first week of the Calling All Angels crowdfunding campaign is coming to a close, and we’ve passed the first 1/3 of our goal - thank you! Over 100 Family House Angels have already stepped up and donated to the campaign, and even more than that have been on board to help us spread the word.
We’ve got great perks for donating, including autographed items from the Grammy Award-winning SF band Train, and the chance to make your mark on the Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House - the new building that will be funded, in part, by this campaign.
We still need your help to make this campaign a success!
As we near the finish line of our $40 million Capital Campaign to build the new Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House in Mission Bay, we see this as an opportunity to make the Campaign “public,” and get everyone involved - even the people who can’t give the “big” gifts that we have been so fortunate to receive thus far.
The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital has just completed construction on a new building in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, and will be opening its doors to patients in early 2015. One of the biggest benefits that Family House offers is close proximity to the Children’s Hospital, and so, when we learned that the hospital would be moving across town, we started plans to move there, too.
We are very much looking forward to the new Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House, which is expected to open to families in late 2015. The new house will serve 80 families per night, more than doubling our current capacity. This means that we will expand our services beyond pediatric cancer patients, to ALL who need a place to stay while their child is undergoing treatment. Our hope is that no family will be turned away, and that all families in crisis will have the comfort and dignity of not worrying where they will sleep at night.
What can you do to help?
Please visit http://indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels
and make a donation. Please also help us spread the word to your
friends and family! It’s incredibly important that we reach as many
people as possible. That’s the great thing about a crowd funding
campaign - many small gifts come together for big results. (We have
images that you can download at http://www.familyhouseinc.org/calling-all-angels.html - update your profile picture to show support for the campaign!)
As
we receive no public funding or money from UCSF, we can’t do what we do
without community support. Thank you for helping to support families of
kids with life-threatening illnesses - your love means everything to
families going through the toughest times of their lives.
