Volunteer Spotlight: Mike Wong

Volunteer Spotlight: Mike Wong

Family House heavily depends on volunteers, and when our weekly volunteers are able to stay connected to help out week after week, it is a huge benefit to the organization. Mike Wong has been volunteering consistently as our of our Office Volunteers for over a year. He first volunteered with Family House as an employee at Salesforce through New Hire Training & Orientation in 2016. He felt so connected to the mission that he came back as an individual volunteer to help with events and back office data entry. With his knowledge, skills, and abilities he is able to help improve efficiency and overall effectiveness in thanking our wonderful donors.

Mike has even gotten his kids involved, and they donated stocking stuffer gifts for our families during the holiday season. His son Sean joined the 2018 Summer High School Program to have a deeper engagement and understanding of Family House.

Thank you, Mike, for all you have done over the past 2 years and we hope that you continue to volunteer with Family House for many years to come!

Learn more about volunteering at Family House at https://www.familyhouseinc.org/volunteer

Summer High School Volunteer Program Wrap-up

Each summer, Family House hosts a group of 15 high school volunteers who participate in activities and complete projects benefiting our families. We had students this year from George Washington, Lowell, Marin Academy, Lick-Wilmerding, Abraham Lincoln, Mercy, San Ramon Valley, St. Ignatius, Design Tech, and Oceana high schools - what a great mix! During each weekly session, in their activities in the house, students meet families and other volunteers. On the first day of the program, students met a family and heard their touching story, and were able to ask questions about treatment, travel, and life at Family House, all to better understand the people who would benefit from their service throughout the summer.

Every week, students also had the opportunity to interact with Family House staff from each department, hearing them speak about their roles within the organization, and how their department supports the overall functions of Family House. These presentations might help guide students as they consider their own future careers.

This year’s students (Ella, Madeline, Olivia, Mimoh, Jake, Shannen, Fion, Hailey, Nathan, Riley, Zoe, Dante, Lucy, Crystal, and Sean) were outstanding, and accomplished numerous fun projects for the families, including: decorating the house in preparation for the 4th of July festivities; hosting a pizza party and game night, including Bingo (with prizes for everyone); and hosting a cupcake baking & decorating activity. Each activity provided enjoyment and entertainment for the families going through a very difficult time.

The Summer High School Volunteer Program is so important to Family House: these young, service-minded, focused students use their talents to uplift our kids and families, while giving volunteers the opportunity to serve their community and those in need. One participant said, “It’s honestly just very humbling to see that small actions of love and care can make such a difference in somebody’s life.”  And we want to thank all those who participated this year!





From all of us at Family House, thank you! 


Karen Banks, Director of Volunteer Programs
Tarence Dixon, Volunteer Coordinator

Volunteer Spotlight: 2016 Summer High School Volunteers

Summer is one of the best times of the year at Family House – the house is full of laughter, fun, and excitement! Part of the reason for this is the Summer High School Volunteer Program. Each summer, 15-20 high school volunteers come to the house twice a week and provide house support, help with baking, arts and crafts, and other fun projects for the families at Family House. Our amazing high school volunteers can earn up to 80 volunteer hours over the course of the summer.

This year our volunteers hosted a Pokémon-Go adventure, trying to “catch-em-all” with a number of our families. In addition, our volunteers made thank you cards, assembled patio furniture for the courtyard, inventoried kitchenware in our eight kitchens, helped plan the end of summer carnival and BBQ, as well as creating the carnival game posters.  The carnival and BBQ was so marvelous that families are still talking about it! During the carnival, families played games, won special prizes, and enjoyed delicious food.

Thank you Emma Ng, Kyle Mach, Jesse Huang, Jason Jang, Jovita Ramirez, Ryan Santos, Sharon Hsu, Sophia Ladwiniec, Michael O'Bryan, Ry Goodwin, Lesley Arroyo, Carson Roberts, Marisa Navarro, Elizabeth Wagner, Vincent Garcia-Zunno, Miles Maloney, Alyssa Tabucao, Lauren McCormick, Alena McGrew, Scott Brasesco, and Eric Sun! This summer wouldn’t have been the same without you!

Rockstar Volunteer: Anna Vidovszky

Volunteer Leaders during the summer semester take on responsibilities above and beyond the duties of the Leaders in the Fall/Spring semesters.  They supervise weeknight Family Dinner nights hosted by various community groups, they manage the Summer High School Volunteer Program (with up to 15 students at one time), and also work summer fundraising events that provide additional income to Family House.

A very special Volunteer Leader this summer is  Anna Vidovszky. 
She has gotten to know Family House very well by helping in almost every department of Family House.  She has been a key volunteer this summer - helping to manage over 15 corporate groups!  With each group,  Anna explains the Family House mission, discusses the day’s volunteer project, and shows the volunteers where all the supplies are.

Anna has been a huge help to the Volunteer Program, as well as to other staff members by helping out with office projects.

Not only does Anna volunteer at Family House, but she also has volunteered for the CCHAT center in Sacramento, and the Emotion, Health, and Psychophysiology Lab at UCSF in the past.  She is currently volunteering as a Research Assistant in the Neurology Department at UCSF.

When Anna has a spare moment, she loves reading, writing, cooking, traveling, playing piano, and horseback riding.  Anna has gotten to know a lot of the volunteers and families, and is a huge help to the Volunteer Program. Thank you Anna for being amazing! Family House wouldn’t be the same without you!

Volunteer Spotlight: Lauren Kahn

Lauren Kahn has been an invaluable asset to the Family House business office this semester. As a Volunteer Lead, she has been spending 8 hours a week helping the business office with event planning, processing donations, and writing thank you letters to our donors. Lauren has been experiencing the behind-the-scenes action of how a non-profit runs. She was also instrumental in coordinating volunteers at our annual Cabernet for Connoisseurs event in February.

Lauren, however, is no stranger to working with children, as she has volunteered at Children's Hospital of Orange County, volunteered in the ER of Garden Grove Hospital, and will volunteer at St. Mary's Hospital in the skilled nurse department. She hopes to go into a career involving children and medicine.

In her spare time, she loves baking, cooking, yoga, and zumba. Lauren has taken the role of being the bright, shining face in the office, welcoming families and helping them navigate the city, or answer questions about the house. Lauren, we love your dedication to our families and the work you do at Family House! Thank you, we wouldn't be the same without you!

You can get involved with Family House! Learn more at http://www.familyhouseinc.org/volunteer.html

Volunteer Spotlight: Jordan Phan and Justin Azar

How does one define an amazing volunteer? Family House defines this as dependable, friendly, outgoing, and motived, with a strong desire to help families. With that being said, we have had the pleasure of having two amazing and devoted summer high school volunteers - Jordan Phan (graduating class of 2014) and Justin Azar (graduating class of 2015). Not only did they volunteer for the program last year, they have also stepped it up to lead an entire team of high school volunteers during the summer of 2013. Jordan and Justin were introduced to Family House at the 2012 St. Ignatius Volunteer Fair, where they received information about the Family House Summer Volunteer Program. Their creativity, drive, and ideas were key in completing the summer project to make a Thank You video for the band Train.

What makes these two so special is that they came back to Family House to lead the next year’s class of summer volunteers. They planned and managed activities for the incoming sophomores and juniors for the summer 2013 Program. They have brought their own special talents to Family House as well. Justin isn't just the top swimmer at his school; he also loves to bake, and has led some tasty activities including baking cakes, cookies, and other treats for the families. (He plans to return to Family House in 2014 to lead the next group of Summer Volunteers!) Jordan, who will graduate high school this coming school year, has plans to attend medical school. She has participated in another service learning project at Habitat for Humanity, and currently attends undergraduate anatomy classes at Stanford University.

Thank you so much to Justin and Jordan for your amazing abilities, your creativity, and the care you give to the Family House mission. Family House adores you both, and we look forward to seeing you succeed in your future endeavors!  You have both worked so hard over the past year and half, and Family House wouldn’t be the same without you!

To see the photos from the Summer Volunteer Program, click here: http://www.facebook.com/FamilyHouseSF

Get involved with Family House! Learn more at http://www.familyhouseinc.org/volunteer.html

Volunteer Spotlight - Lauren Cope

Check out our Volunteer Spotlight - Lauren Cope. She managed our High School Volunteer Program in the summer of 2012. We also just honored her in December as our Volunteer of the Year!

Get involved with Family House! Learn more at http://www.familyhouseinc.org/volunteer.html