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.
Saw an item at the Thrift Store that you just can't live without? No worries! Randa Aoun, the Store Manager, is currently selling the remaining inventory online. Click here to shop!
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.