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!!
Tuesday, April 30, 2019
Monday, April 22, 2019
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
Monday, April 8, 2019
National Volunteer Week 2019
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
Tuesday, April 2, 2019
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:
by Elan Slavin, MSW
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
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