Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival Recap - September 14th and 15th

The sun was shining, the chocolate was flowing… well, it was a little melty, anyway (see the previous comment about the sun), but that didn't stop anybody from having an amazing time at the 18th Annual Ghirardelli Chocolate Festival on Beach street.

With the America's Cup racing boats behind us on the water, the foot traffic was better than usual this year. We talked with hundreds of chocolate fans - Bay Area natives, chocolate enthusiasts from across the country, and even visitors from as far away as Canada and Europe! (Now, these folks are REALLY dedicated to their chocolate addiction!)
 

Family House volunteers and staff were invited by our friends at Personality Hotels to share their booth on Sunday. The event's proceeds benefit Project Open Hand, a San Francisco nonprofit that is dedicated to feeding people with life-threatening illnesses; and so we were excited to have an opportunity to tell event attendees about the Family House mission - providing free, temporary housing to families of children with life-threatening illnesses. It was a great way to tell LOTS of people about Family House, and make new friends.

We talked with everyone who came by about Family House, and about Personality Hotels' new "Save Me, San Francisco" hotel package.  Personality Hotels came up with this great idea to help support Family House. When you stay at one of their fantastic boutique San Francisco hotels, you can add on the "Save Me, San Francisco" package, which includes a bottle of Train's award-winning Soul Sister Pinot Noir, two wine-pairing bars of Ghirardelli/Save Me, San Francisco Chocolate, late checkout (after your night on the town!), and a direct cash donation to Family House.

 This package brings together support and love from Personality Hotels and from the Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company - what could be better?  Chocolate Festival VIPs had a chance to taste some Save Me, San Francisco Wine in the Cadillac Wine and Chocolate Pavilion - and event volunteers there were able to tell the story about how rock band Train found Family House and how they've been incredible supporters ever since!  If chocolate equals love, man, this day was one serious love fest!

Big shout outs to Personality Hotels, Ghirardelli Chocolate, Train, and the Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company, and to all our friends that we saw at the chocolate festival - Three Twins Ice Cream, the San Francisco Bulls, and of course, Project Open Hand and all our new friends that we made that day!

Ready to book your stay at a Personality Hotel? Click here to add a Save Me, San Francisco package! http://info.personalityhotels.com/blog/bid/187364/Save-Me-San-Francisco

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

Family House in the Business Times

Did you see the Family House supplement in the San Francisco Business Times?

It outlines the past and future of Family House, including our move to Mission Bay. Check it out:

http://www.familyhouseinc.org/images/press/san-francisco-business-times-supplement-september-2014.pdf

Calling All Angels - Thank You!

Thank you, #FHAngels! Together, we raised over $66K for the new Nancy & Stephen Grand Family House! You really stepped up to show your love for our little global community. Thank you!

Click here to learn more about Family House families:
http://www.familyhouseinc.org/family-stories.html

Calling All Angels: The Future Nancy & Stephen Grand Family House

Family House Board Chair shows off the future site of the new Nancy & Stephen Grand Family House at Mission Bay:

You can still contribute to the campaign and help us meet our goal!  http://indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels

Thank you for all of your support to help make this new building a reality! Together, we can build it and ensure that all families have a place to stay while their child is undergoing life-saving treatment in San Francisco!

Calling All Angels Update

Family House CEO Alexandra Morgan gives an update on the Calling All Angels crowdfunding campaign at http://indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels

Train’s Pat Monahan Visits Family House

You know by now that the members of Grammy-award-winning San Francisco band Train love Family House, and you know we love them even more!

These amazing individuals were looking for a SF children’s charity that they could get behind, and their search led them to us. Since then, they started the Save Me, San Francisco Wine Company, producing several different varietals, all of which have received accolades in international wine circles. Then they paired with the Ghiradelli Chocolate Company to create Save Me, San Francisco Chocolates - delicious flavors that pair great with wine! The proceeds from all of these products go to Family House and help families in their greatest time of need.

The money they have raised on our behalf will have a lasting legacy on the future of Family House - the Nancy & Stephen Grand Family House at Mission Bay will have a Train music room.  Music heals, and this space will give kids a chance to be kids. We can’t wait for this!

But one of the things we love most about Train is that they really walk the walk. They don’t just sign checks, they are actively involved in our mission.  Because of constant touring, they are rarely home in SF, but when they can, they always make a point to stop in at Family House to meet families and hang out. When they’re with us, they aren’t rockstars - they’re regular people who are part of the Family House family who want to know the stories, who want to meet the kids, who want to know what they can personally do to help. Incredible, right?

And they are putting all of their weight behind the Calling All Angels crowdfunding campaign at indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels  Check out this great video that Pat recorded just last week!

We are so lucky that the guys in Train share their love with us!  Share if you agree! #FHAngels

Calling All Angels Update

#FHAngels, all we can say is WOW! The first week of the Calling All Angels crowdfunding campaign is coming to a close, and we’ve passed the first 1/3 of our goal - thank you!  Over 100 Family House Angels have already stepped up and donated to the campaign, and even more than that have been on board to help us spread the word.

We’ve got great perks for donating, including autographed items from the Grammy Award-winning SF band Train, and the chance to make your mark on the Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House - the new building that will be funded, in part, by this campaign.

We still need your help to make this campaign a success!

Visit http://indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels and watch the new video - Jack’s Tale

Donate whatever you can to help us realize the new building

Share the campaign link on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus.  The bigger the reach, the better! And be sure to tag yourself as one of our #FHAngels!

We’re off to an outstanding start, and with your help, we’ll cross the finish line before the campaign is closed.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Calling All Angels!

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels

Today is the day! Family House has started our first-ever crowd funding campaign, named the “Calling All Angels” campaign, on http://indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels.

As we near the finish line of our $40 million Capital Campaign to build the new Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House in Mission Bay, we see this as an opportunity to make the Campaign “public,” and get everyone involved - even the people who can’t give the “big” gifts that we have been so fortunate to receive thus far.

The UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital has just completed construction on a new building in the Mission Bay neighborhood of San Francisco, and will be opening its doors to patients in early 2015. One of the biggest benefits that Family House offers is close proximity to the Children’s Hospital, and so, when we learned that the hospital would be moving across town, we started plans to move there, too.

We are very much looking forward to the new Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House, which is expected to open to families in late 2015. The new house will serve 80 families per night, more than doubling our current capacity. This means that we will expand our services beyond pediatric cancer patients, to ALL who need a place to stay while their child is undergoing treatment. Our hope is that no family will be turned away, and that all families in crisis will have the comfort and dignity of not worrying where they will sleep at night.

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels

What can you do to help?
Please visit http://indiegogo.com/projects/calling-all-angels and make a donation. Please also help us spread the word to your friends and family! It’s incredibly important that we reach as many people as possible. That’s the great thing about a crowd funding campaign - many small gifts come together for big results. (We have images that you can download at http://www.familyhouseinc.org/calling-all-angels.html - update your profile picture to show support for the campaign!)

As we receive no public funding or money from UCSF, we can’t do what we do without community support. Thank you for helping to support families of kids with life-threatening illnesses - your love means everything to families going through the toughest times of their lives.