Thank you Benefit Lunch Sponsors!
On March 7, 2011 Raphael House held it's 4th Annual Benefit Luncheon at the Westin St. Francis. The event raised over $50,000 for our families. We thank Christina Dunning, Chuck Doyle Jessica Moment, the host committee and our sponsors!
2 Be Bold
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Welcome Mandy!
One year ago our longtime Executive Director, Father David Lowell, retired from Raphael House and we hired an Interim Executive Director. Bruce Jack has served in the role of Interim Executive Director over the past year, providing administrative stability as well as space and time for the Executive Transition Committee to fully consider candidates for the permanent Executive Director position.
We are thankful to Bruce for his leadership in a time of great transition and introspection. His hard work and dedication to Raphael House has yielded a stronger and more focused organization that is ready to serve even more families in crisis.
We are excited to introduce you to our new leader, Amanda Heier, who assumed the role of Executive Director on January 13. Mandy comes with great passion for our mission. She has an extensive background in housing and homeless services in San Francisco. Attached you will find Mandy’s biography for your review.
We are hosting a welcome reception for Mandy on February 17, from 5-7pm at Raphael House. We hope that you will be able to join us that evening to meet Mandy and hear more about her vision for Raphael House. To RSVP, please contact the Development Office at 415.474.3245.
We look ahead with excitement as Raphael House enters a new era. We faithfully and thoughtfully continue to serve families and children in need through both the Residential and AfterCare Programs. The whole organization strives to find ways to be even more effective in addressing the needs of families in crisis. We are happy to answer any questions that you may have and welcome your ideas and thoughts. Thank you for your loyal and generous support.
Thank you! The Adopt-a-Family Program a Success!
Thank you very much to all community members who helped the Raphael House Adopt a Family program be so successful this year! Because of your generous support, over 700 children were able to open gifts on Christmas morning. It was wonderful to see all the excited and smiling faces of both children and adults as they picked up their Christmas gifts. We are incredibly grateful for your continued support!
A New Relationship is Formed
Raphael House is excited to announce our new partnership with Community Thrift Store, located at 623 Valencia St. in San Francisco. Community Thrift Store is a wonderful organization that partners with local non-profit agencies by housing charitable donations. All donations made to Raphael House can now be taken to Community Thrift Store. Both Raphael House and Raphael House clients will continue to benefit from generous donations made by you - our community members. This partnership assists Raphael House with our restricted storage and allows Raphael House clients a wider selection of necessary items and the independence to shop at their leisure.
For more information about drop off hours and donation guidelines please visit Community Thrift Store at www.communitythriftsf.org or call at (415) 861-4910
Thank you Borders!
Thank you to Borders staff and customers for the incredibly generous gift of $20,000 worth of children's books. Borders, located on Market Street in San Francisco, collected three times the original goal of books for the children of Raphael House. With this wonderful donation, Raphael House will host a book fair for Residential and AfterCare families. Read more about it here.
This idea was sparked when an AfterCare child was unable to purchase books at their school fair due to lack of funds. Raphael House is incredibly grateful for the generosity of the community and excited to be able to provide so many children with this opportunity.
Adopt-a-family 2009 a huge success!
An amazing 304 families were served through the Adopt a Family program! Our community was very supportive toward the Raphael House families and we are incredibly grateful. Numerous families expressed their gratitude for the very warm and generous gifts. One mother had so many wonderful gifts she needed help loading them into her car. She had difficulty fitting them all into the trunk of her car and when I asked her why she did not put them in the back seat with her children she said “Oh no, they still believe in Santa and I love it. I do not know what I would have done without the Adopt-a-Family program.”
the end of an era
Raphael House Thrift Store Closes its Doors
For the past twelve years, the Raphael House Thrift Store has been an essential resource for our shelter residents who often arrive with only the clothes they are wearing. Although we will no longer provide a store to our families and past residents, we will continue to provide everything from clothing, shoes, and books to household items. Click here to find how you can help.
The closing of the Thirft Store, although sad, is an opportunity for staff and volunteers to create even more services for families. Currently, a sub-committee of the Board of Directors is being created to assist Raphael House in developing a Tech Lab for our residents and AfterCare families.
KidPower
On Saturday, October 10, 11 pairs of parents and children came together at Raphael House for a KidPower Workshop. KidPower is a wonderful organization that provides workshops on empowering children about safety, communication, establishing boundaries, and awareness. Parents and children were able to participate in interactive role playing which was very FUN and educational. Raphael House is very happy to be able partner with KidPower and look forward to future collaboration!
Washington d.c. for teens
Raphael House AfterCare introduces a new and exciting program and challenge for 
our teens! We are offering an exciting educational field trip to Washington D.C. as a reward for students who commit to improving or enriching their academic experience for the 2009-2010 school year. Starting this autumn, participating students will commit to attending tutoring sessions three Saturdays per month, and have their progress evaluated. Each student’s evaluation will be tailored to his or her individual education status. The students themselves will be part of the process in establishing their immediate and long-term goals. Continue to visit the Raphael House website for exciting update on this program!
Raphael house decreases its carbon footprint
In late 2007, Raphael House commenced the process of "greening" our building and operations. We are proud to say that since our Energy Audit, done by PG&E, we have taken many drastic steps to decrease our carbon footprint. In the last year, we have replaced all light fixtures in high traffic areas with motion sensor equipment and we have replaced our outdated reach-in refrigerator with an efficient model, all in order to minimize our energy consumption. In addition, Justin Brierton, our Operations Manager, makes sure that all paper products and office supplies come from recycled sources. Best of all, as of August, we completed the substitution of all chemicals and cleaning products with earth-friendly products such as Green Works and Shaklee. We, at Raphael House, have made a commitment to the health and well-being of our families and supporting the health of our planet is a big component of that.
Give the gift of language to a parent
Become an ESL volunteer teacher through Raphael House
Starting this Fall, residents and past residents of Raphael House will have another service made available to them. An ESL Program, designed to help adults learn to read and write basic English, as well as improve conversational skills, will be introduced. Carol Field, our Volunteer Coordinator, has begun the search for volunteers and is excited about this new service. "This is a great opportunity for hands-on volunteering experience. Once parents learn English, they can talk with their child’s teacher or a doctor or call for help in an emergency. They can have dignity. They’re no longer strangers in their own neighborhood," said Carol earlier this week.
It is not necessary for volunteers to know a foreign language or have teaching experience. Lean more
For further information, please contact us.
Ruth & John Stumpf
United Way Bay Area
John Stumpf, the 2008 Campaign Cabinet Chair and CEO of Wells Fargo in partnership with his wife Ruth, chose to be photographed for the current UWBA poster in the Raphael House kitchen prepping a meal for our families. This photograph shows the personal involvement and dedication that Ruth and John have to both the San Francisco community and to Raphael House.
It is important to note that the UWBA poster that features Ruth and John Stumpf were distributed to more than 250 Bay Area companies. Each company partners with the United Way Bay Area to run successful annual workplace giving campaigns. Last year this partnership raised $40 million.
Executive Director, Fr. David Lowell recognized by
his alma mater Birmingham Southern College 
Fr. David Lowell was recently featured by his alma mater Birmingham-Southern College. As part of the honor Fr. David addressed an assembly where he was introduced by former Raphael House resident and Rhode Island School of Design Senior,S Victoria Chrichlow-Debro. Fr. David reminisced about his tenure at BSC, and the firm foundation of learning and discovery established during his academic career. See below for Fr. David’s comments and introduction by Victoria Crichlow-Debro.