Our Staff
Executive
Amanda Heier, Executive Director
Senior Management
Robert Benavidez, Director of Finance & Operations
Anna Hurtado, Director of Family Services
Residential ServicesKaren Booth, MFTI, Senior Clinical Case Manager Manager |
Academic and Youth Enrichment Ralitza Doynova, Children & Family Services Manager |
AfterCare ServicesKaren Dick,Workforce Development Specialist |
Kitchen OperationsLionel Dean Chadwick, Kitchen Manager |
Administrative Services Darlene Williams, Front Desk Reception Maager |
Development, Communications & MarketingFlavia Henrique, Special Events Coordinator & |
FinanceVong Sokham, Staff Accountant |
Building ServicesJerry Maynard, Facilities Manager |
Robert Benavidez, Director of Finance and Operations
Robert Benavidez joined Raphael House as Director of Finance and Operations on October 2010. He received a B.S. from the University of San Francisco in Applied Economics. Robert comes to Raphael House from New Leaf Services for Our Community where he served as Director of Finance and Human Resources. Prior to New Leaf Robert was Director of Finance and Administration for First Place for Youth. He has over 20 years experience in finance for both non-profit and for profit firms with experience in the areas of risk management, auditing, financial management/reporting, and investments. Robert’s key role is to manage the areas of financial administration, facilities, kitchen operations, and all information technology operations. He has volunteered over the last fifteen years for various non-profits in the Bay Area, the San Francisco Marathon and previously served as Chair for Bay Area Youth Running Partners currently known as Youth Run4Fun.
Karen Booth,MFTI, Senior Clinical Case Manager Manager
Karen Booth, a recent transplant to San Francisco, originally hails from Orange County, California. She studied Psychology at the University of California Santa Barbara, where she mentored peers in nutrition and eating disorders, and was instrumental in the management of the Peer Health Education team. Karen received her Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Santa Barbara. At the inception of her Marriage & Family Therapist career, Karen interned at two Santa Barbara-based programs - one working with the severely mentally ill, and another counseling clients in an eating disorder out-patient program. Karen enjoys music and volunteering, and combined these two passions for several years as an usher at the Santa Barbara Bowl. She has been enthusiastically exploring her new home San Francisco, and working as a Clinical Case Manager at Raphael House.
Lionel Dean Chadwick, Chef
Lionel Dean Chadwick is one of the Chefs about of the Raphael House team. He brings his experiences from traveling and his well versed cooking knowledge to every plate he creates. Serving families that appreciate a well cooked meal has been a blessing for Dean as well as getting to work with such respectful team members. He started cooking at an early age in Singapore and continued his aspiration as he returned back to the States. He eventually attended the Art Institute of California in Santa Ana to attain his culinary degree. Dean has always been big in the volunteer community so to be able to work at the Raphael House has been a “dream come true.” He takes pride in community, food, and work ethic.
Karen Dick, Workforce Development Specialist
Karen is a passionate and committed advocate for those in need. She has a BA in Anthropology from San Francisco State University. Born and raised in Chicago, Karen has traveled the globe extensively to satisfy her wanderlust, an unquenchable curiosity to know and understand others, and to sample as many sweet and savory vegetarian delights as possible. Karen has taught ELL and Life Skills to Bhutanese refugees – she also became their housing advocate. Karen has worked extensively with individuals to assist them to reenter the workforce. She and her rescued cats are more than pleased to be returning San Francisco to be closer to family and friends, and to be part of the Raphael House of San Francisco team.
Ralitza Doynova, Children & Family Services Manager
Ralitza is the Educational Enrichment Coordinator at Raphael House. She joined Raphael House 11 years ago as the Tutoring Club and Children’s Outings Coordinator leading the academic tutoring, filed trips and children’s festivals and events for several years. She now heads Academic Tutoring and Enrichment for children and ESL tutoring for adults. Ralitza holds a Master’s Degree in Education and a B.A. in English.
Clara G. Farr-Rice , AfterCare Clinical Case Manager
Clara recently relocated back to San Francisco after a two year hiatus in Denver, CO, during which she received her Master of Social Work and Master of Arts in International Studies degrees from the University of Denver. Prior to joining the Raphael House team, she worked at the Cooperative Restraining Order Clinic, connecting Latina women to the agency's legal services. While in Denver, Clara continued her work with survivors of domestic violence, providing counseling and advocacy services. She is continually amazed by the human capacity for recovery and growth, and is thrilled to be working as Bilingual Clinical Case Manager. Clara loves coffee, fabric arts, and aspires to one day be a great home chef.
Kimberly Fisher, Residential Counselor
Kimberly Fisher graduated from the University of San Francisco in 2009 with a major in Sociology and a minor in Psychology. At USF, Kimberly participated in various programs within the San Francisco community such as the Martín Baró Scholars and the Erasmus Program. In addition, for two years Kimberly was a Youth Case Manager, Resident Advisor and participated in the Residential Council for mostly freshmen and sophomore college students. Kimberly has worked for Raphael House since May of 2009 and enjoys working, interacting, and helping families. Kimberly plans to be a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and enjoys visiting her home country, Belize.
Mandy Heier, Executive Director
Amanda Heier has over nine years’ experience leading the development of supportive housing and homeless services for low income adults in San Francisco. Before coming to San Francisco to specifically work in non-profit administration, she received a Bachelor of Social Work degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to Raphael House, Mandy was the Executive Director for The Mary Elizabeth Inn. Her combined professional experience is focused on strategic planning, optimizing fiscal operations, developing organizational capacity, and increasing mission impact. Previously the Personnel Chair at Laurel Hill Nursery School, she currently sits on the Auction Committee for Creative Arts Charter School. Mandy lives in San Francisco with her husband and two young children.
Flavia Henrique, Special Events Coordinator and Website Communications Manager
Flavia was born in Brazil and moved to the United States at the age of ten. She attended Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia where she received a B.A. in Psychology. Flavia's event planning career begun when, shortly after graduation, she was hired by Patrick David's Catering and Event Planning as an event coordinator. In 2007, Flavia joined the Raphael House team as our Special Events Coordinator and most recently as our Web Communications Manager. In addition to working at Raphael House, Flavia sits on the British American Business Council Christmas Luncheon Committee and is working on her Dual Masters Degree in Counseling and Forensic Psychology at Holy Names University in Oakland.
Anna Hurtado, Director of Family Services
Anna Hurtado joined Raphael House in 2008 as the ChildReach Program Supervisor. Since then, she has expanded AfterCare Services for both adults and children. Anna holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Dominican University of California in English Literature and a minor in pre-law, a Master of Arts degree in Comparative Politics from San Francisco State University, and is currently working on a Master of Public Administration degree. Anna’s experience with families and children includes teaching literacy in Guyana, South America and volunteering at a summer camp for disadvantaged youth.
Camille Idiaquez, Grants Officer and Development Associate
Camille grew up in the Los Angeles area, moving to the Bay Area to attend the University of California, Berkeley and received her B.A. in Economics. In 2007, she moved to San Francisco and began working in the Raphael House Development Department. Camille provides support for special events, helps manage our donor database, produces Newsletters and Annual Reports, and assumed the role as Grants Officer in January 2010. While in college, she interned at the Alta Bates Summit Foundation and later spent a semester abroad in Spain. In her free time, she enjoys camping with family and friends, and traveling to other countries, most recently spending two weeks in Panama.
Clif Klemans, Senior Residential Counselor
Clif has recently started his 7th year at Raphael House. He first came to volunteer for the summer of 2003 while in graduate school in New York. He did various jobs, but mostly cooked breakfast. Upon completing his MDiv, he returned to Raphael House Christmas of 2004 to live and work. Clif received a position with the Residential Department, which guides the families through the daily life of Raphael House. The community here, as well as the families that seek shelter, helped him decide to make social services his career choice.
Kim Lessard, Corporate Outreach & Community Liaison
Kim came to Raphael House in September 2010, from California College of the Arts, where she managed media relations and promotions, and served as a member of the editorial team for the alumni magazine and website. Before CCA, she was a publicist for Jossey-Bass, an imprint of Wiley, specializing in books in nonprofit management, education, and psychology. Her interest in nonprofit advancement began when she interned abroad in the press office for Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and an Associate in Arts in Communication from Endicott College. She grew up in Southern New Hampshire, just north of Boston, and enjoys traveling, writing poetry, and sharing a good meal with family and friends.
Preeti Makwana, Academic Enrichment Program Coordinator
Preeti was born in England, and raised in Southern California. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to attend UC Berkeley, where she received a Bachelor of Science in Conservation and Resource Studies. Preeti works as a Program Assistant in the ChildReach where she helps with the planning and logistics of weekly field trips, events, and scholarships for children. She also works as a tutor in the Academic Enrichment Program. In her spare time, Preeti enjoys making clothes, bike-riding, and baking cakes.
Elena Novikova, Residential Program Coordinator
Serving as the Residential Program Coordinator since 2004, Elena strives to maintain a tranquil, home-like atmosphere in which our diverse families can overcome crisis and find stability. For many of those years, she lived at Raphael House alongside the residential families, an experience she finds to be crucial in learning how to foster a successful healing environment. Prior to her work at Raphael House, Elena studied music at a post-graduate level in her home country of Russia, taught children of various ages both privately and in academies, and performed with several musical groups.
Harry Rodriguez-Pereira, Chef
Harry recently joined Raphael House team of Chefs from Cabo Fresco in California’s Central Valley. Harry’s culinary experience began 7 years ago as a line cook leading to a position as a trainer which makes his an excellent candidate to lead our weekend baking club. He eventually worked as Sous Chef for both Elite Catering and Selectos Catering before joining Cabo Fresco. Harry graduated from the Culinary Arts Institute in 2005.
Geoff Welliver, Children's Program Coordinator
Geoff Welliver joined the staff at Raphael House with many years of experience teaching music theory and music production to children and adults alike. He spent several years volunteering as a respite worker for children with special needs around the Bay Area, and also worked as an assistant teacher for a local life science education group. A San Francisco native, Geoff has been a musician his entire life and spends his free time writing music and performing around San Francisco and beyond.
Darlene Williams, Front Desk Supervisor
When visiting Raphael House, it is likely that Darlene will be the first person you will see. She will always greet you with a broad and warm smile and make sure that you find your way around our home. Darlene joined the Raphael House team on March of 2004 as a Residential Floor Manager after working at the Salvation Army as a House Manager for recovering addicts. After managing the second floor for two years, Darlene moved into her current position and has become a pillar of Raphael House.