Monthly Birthday Parties

At Family House, we love birthdays! Whether you’re turning 3, 15, 40, or 70, birthdays are something to celebrate! Many Family House families are away from home for extended periods of time, and most acutely feel the sting of being far from home when special days come up. We do everything we can to make Family House a home away from home, and that most definitely includes celebrating holidays and milestones big and small!

In 2018, volunteers from Salesforce took on the task of hosting the Monthly Birthday Pizza Party. Once a month, there’s a big party in the house for everyone who has a birthday: patients, siblings, parents, grandparents - anyone staying with us! There are presents for the kids, and pizza and cupcakes for all! The support that Salesforce volunteers provide is tremendous, and we are grateful that they hosted this party each month all last year, and are continuing the tradition for all of 2019. Thank you, Salesforce, for the many ways you support Family House families year-round!

To learn about ways that you can make a difference at Family House, visit https://familyhouseinc.org/volunteer/volunteer-opportunities/

K-PAX Racing Day at Family House

Thank you to the K-PAX Racing Team and Flexport for hosting a wonderful car show & party at Family House! Pro drivers Alvaro Parente, Andy Soucek, Rodrigo Baptista, and Maxime Soulet were in the house with a 2019 Bentley Continental GT3 race car and a street-ready Bentley, showing off the cars, signing autographs, and meeting Family House families. Volunteers from Flexport brought pizza and snacks, car-themed games, and arts and crafts, helped out with the bounce house, and more! Thank you to everyone for making it such an amazing experience - special thanks to Jim Haughey, Darren Law, Brendan Capria, Bentley Motors, Flexport, and the whole K-PAX Racing team! And congratulations to K-PAX on your wins this past weekend at the Blancplain GT World Challenge at Sonoma Raceway!

View more photos.

Watch the video.

Meet & Greet with Buster Posey

Thank you to the San Francisco Giants for the amazing opportunity for Family House families to meet Buster Posey and family, and enjoy the baseball game afterwards! This past Sunday, families got to spend time with Buster and the family, asking all kinds of questions about baseball from one of the best players in the MLB! We love how Kristen, Addison, and Lee get so involved in meeting families - and they even brought their pup to meet everyone, too! Thank you to the Poseys and the Giants for caring about Family House families and treating them to this once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Family House Impact

Just released! Read the Fiscal Year 2018 Annual Report - Family House Impact:

http://e.issuu.com/embed.html#31716150/70050357

May is Mental Health Month

May is Mental Health Month by Elan Slavin, MSW

May is here and change is all around us.  The weather is beginning to feel more like Spring, the wild flowers are bold and bright and the school year for some is beginning to wind down.  May is also Mental Health Awareness month.  This month (and hopefully year ‘round) we can continue to increase awareness about all of our mental health needs as individuals and as a country.

The following three websites are resources for various kinds of important information and help when it comes to our own mental health and those we love.  Please note: as always, if you are concerned about yourself or someone you love, please reach out to your doctor or a mental health clinician.

www.thenationalcouncil.org
www.nami.org
www.adaa.org

May is here and change is all around us.  I think the poet, Mary Oliver expresses a depth of gratitude for change and new beginnings in a most elegant way.

Why I Wake Early, by Mary Oliver

 

Hello, sun in my face

Hello, you who make the morning.

And spread it over the fields

And into the faces of the tulips

And the nodding morning glories,

And into the windows of, even, the

Miserable and crotchety-

 

Best preacher that ever was-

Dear star, that just happens

To be where you are in the universe

To keep us from ever-darkness,

To ease us with warm touching,

To hold us in the great hands of light-

Good morning, good morning, good morning

 

Watch, now, how I start the day

In happiness, in kindness

Taking a moment to acknowledge your need for help is the ultimate act of kindness we can give to ourselves.

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