Volunteer Spotlight: Tricia Redor

Tricia Redor first heard about Family House through the Psychology Practicum class at the University of San Francisco, as do many of our USF volunteers. She was moved to help families and their children going through serious illness.

Tricia started helping Family House through managing group projects for the Volunteer Program, such as showing new volunteers where all the supplies are kept, and training them on setting up donations during our monthly give-away days. She has been instrumental in helping the Operations staff with house projects that include laundry, painting, cleaning carpets in bedrooms, and other necessary tasks to make sure the house is a clean and safe environment for immune-compromised children and their families.

Tricia has also given her time to working as a tutor, mentor, kitchen helper, office aide, and research assistant. She has experience working with children and homeless populations: she has volunteered at Glide and Project Open Hand, where she helped prepare and serve meals to those in need.

She spends her free time drawing, painting, running outdoors, listening to music, and going on adventures with her family and friends.

Thank you Tricia for caring for the families of Family House all semester!

Learn more about volunteering at Family House at http://www.familyhouseinc.org/volunteer.html

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

Volunteer Spotlight: Wendy Chang

 Great volunteers make their way to Family House through all sorts of different channels. Wendy Chang first heard about Family House through our very own Social Media Coordinator, Joey Kotfica. Wendy and Joey volunteer together at Project Open Hand in San Francisco. Wendy has dedicated a majority of her time to volunteering at various organizations including: Hand on Bay Area, Aidswalk SF, AIDS Foundation and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Wendy has been an extraordinary help to Family House both in the Business Office as well as at our Thanksgiving, Christmas parties and at our largest fundraiser of the year, Cabernet for Connoisseurs where over $1 Million dollars was raised.

In addition to volunteering, Wendy works part-time as an exam proctor for city and state government jobs and as a theater usher. She also enjoys reading, gardening and walking around San Francisco.

Wendy, you provide tremendous support to help events and projects run smoothly and always have a smile on your face! Thank you so much for your support at Family House!

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