Starbucks #603: Rockstar Volunteers!

Cole Munoz, a longtime Family House volunteer, had a brainstorm this holiday season that she named Jeans for Joy. As a manager of Starbucks #603 (at 74 New Montgomery Street in downtown SF), she encouraged her team to donate to Family House so they could wear jeans to work instead of the usual uniform. She also posted signs in-store to encourage customers to donate, and to help spread the word about the Family House mission.

Cole’s idea spread like wildfire through the Starbucks districts in San Francisco, and all told, 33 independent stores participated, raising funds for Family House families.

Cole first got involved with Family House through Director of Volunteer Programs Greg

Mora - the pair have been friends since high school. Cole has volunteered at fundraising events for the past 4 years, and she took the initiative to do something more personal this year. We hope Jeans for Joy will become a regular holiday Starbucks tradition!

Volunteer Spotlight: Joey Jordan

Family House has a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with the University of San Francisco. We have had a number of volunteers come to volunteer each semester through Service-Learning classes, as well as community clubs on campus.     For the first time, Family House has its own ACE student for the 2015-2015 school year. ACE stands for Advocates for Community Engagement, and is focused on “developing socially responsible, civically-engaged student leaders who facilitate quality service-learning experiences for all stakeholders and advocate for the common good of the community” per the USF ACE website. During the 2015-2013 school year, ACEs managed and led reflective activities for over 200 service-learning students.

Family House’s amazing ACE student, Joey Jordan, will be working with 14 USF students this semester, as well as providing his own service hours to help Family House at events, manage volunteers, and even TEACH Zumba lessons to the families. Joey is very inspired by Family House and is excited to support in any way he can.

He was drawn to Family House as he can understand how hard it is for a family going through treatments when they are so far from their own families.
       
When Joey is not volunteering or working on school work, he enjoys running in Golden Gate Park, spending time admiring the scenery, as well as volunteering at various non-profits including Project Open Hand, St. Vincent de Paul, and Raphael House.

Thank you Joey for all of your help this year at Family House!

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

Volunteer Spotlight: Marco Rodriguez

Marco Rodriquez first heard about Family House through the Psychology Practicum class at the University of San Francisco. He joined Family House as the an Operations Volunteer Leader at 10th Ave and worked to maintain the garden areas to provide a peaceful and well kept areas for the families.

He was drawn to Family House as he had helped at UCSF by volunteering to pass out books and magazines to critically ill patients. Marco has also volunteered in the St. Anthony’s soup kitchen preparing fresh meals for clients needing their services.

Marco was successful at completing his summer project at Family House which was to restructure the irrigation system to ensure the flowers and plants received the correct amount of water all year long.  On a day-to-day basis Marco also helped our Operations team with house projects, manage volunteer groups and even has been able to utilize his Spanish speaking skills at Family House.

When Marco isn’t volunteering or working on school work he enjoys spending time reading at home, cooking delicious meals and swimming. Thank you Marco for all of your help this summer at Family House!

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