Cabernet for Connoisseurs 2017

The 22nd Annual Cabernet for Connoisseurs event is Family House’s biggest annual fundraiser. This year, over 350 guests joined 59 pouring vintners to have fun and raise money for Family House! Thank you to everyone who made this memorable night possible - all of the attendees, the donors, the volunteers, and naturally, all of the vintners! We are so lucky to have such an incredibly generous, supportive community, and some of the best wine in the world right in our own back yard. Lots more photos at facebook.com/FamilyHouseSanFrancisco

Cabernet for Connoisseurs 2014: A Letter from Dr. Art Ablin, Family House Founder

Dear Karen, Neil and the 2014 Cabernet Committee:


What a wonderful event!!!

We raised a lot; I don’t know exactly how much or if it was more or less than last year’s Cabernet, but that doesn’t make it any less spectacular than it was.  It was the best.  There is nothing anyone can put into words that describes the excitement there, gobs of beautiful young volunteers opening doors and giving directions,  the swizzling glasses and smacking lips in the wine tasting rooms, the careful and orderly arrangement of the displayed silent auction items and the constant, hum-drum pace of the auction.  The talks that Neil, Alexandra, and Dick Grace gave so eloquently brought home the Family House Mission and of course having the Ferrick Family there with young Jay’s presence on the stage left no doubt about what the evening was for. I know we raised over $500,000 on people just raising their numbers, to say nothing of the rest of the wine and other items.  It was absolutely the best!

Congratulations to all who had anything to do with this spectacular event.  Anyone there and all those who were not able to make it, can not help from being so proud to be a part of Family House.  We may not be the greatest, but one thing for certain:  there are none better.

Thank you Neil Committee and all the many others that made this possible.

Debbie and Art Ablin

Check out the event photos from this momentous night: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153810632270277.1073741990.148667470276&type=1

Click here to find information on upcoming Family House events: http://www.familyhouseinc.org/events.html

A Cancer Survivor Looks Back

What would you do if you found out your 5-year-old had cancer?

In February of 2000, Matt and Mary Ferrick noticed their son was limping, and they did what any parent would do - they brought him to the doctor. Scans revealed that a previously-undetected tumor in his stomach had now spread to his hip. Jay was rushed 100 miles from their home in Ukiah to UCSF to be treated for stage 4 neuroblastoma. Pulled out of kindergarten, he was admitted to the hospital, and his family stayed at Family House on and off for 14 months while he underwent chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and a stem cell transplant.

"One thing I remember about the Family House is that I always looked forward to going.  Especially I remember because there were video games in the downstairs living room, and me and my little brother looked forward to playing video games because we didn't have them at home," recalls Jay, now 19 years old and a healthy sophomore at Chico State.

"Jay is doing very well, he lives a normal life, and is able to do everything that everybody else does.  He's been 12-13 years in remission now.  Of the type of cancer he had, 70% of the kids relapse, but Jay has been healthy since he completed his treatment. It's been a blessing to put it in the rear view mirror," says his father, Matt.

"Family House provided support for the whole family…  [For Jay's younger brother, Thomas,] having a sibling who's getting all the attention - some people really struggle with that, feeling they're in the background…. we've always tried to make them feel equal." Playing Nintendo in the Family House living room was a highlight for both boys. "[Thomas] thought it was a big thrill to go to San Francisco and see his big brother;" at only 3 years old at the time, he couldn't comprehend the seriousness of the situation, Matt recalls.

Jay's oncologist, Dr. Katherine Matthay, says that "Neuroblastoma is a very, very serious cancer that we find only in young children. More than 50% of children already have the cancer spread to their bones and their bone marrow at the time the cancer is detected." At the time of Jay's diagnosis and treatment, fewer than 15% of children survived metastatic neuroblastoma.

Dick and Anne Grace of Grace Family Vineyards are longtime Family House supporters, and have even awarded a grant to Dr. Matthay for cancer research. The targeted radiotherapy treatment that was developed from that grant is now one of the most active treatments for widespread and resistant neuroblastoma.  Dick says, "Annie and I had the extraordinary privilege of walking a portion of Jay's cure path alongside both he and his family, and it was there that we got the opportunity to see the courage and see the commitment and the resolve that he had in navigating this path."

Looking back, Jay hopes that his battle with cancer will be an inspiration to others who are currently undergoing treatment. "When we go to UCSF, we visit '7 Long,' the floor I was on, and I see all the kids there, and I hope that they see how I am, and hope that they can be cured and be a regular kid like me."

We are delighted that the Ferricks continue to be part of the Family House family!

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http://www.familyhouseinc.org/family-stories.html

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