Raphael House

Parked in front of their loading zone. I am disabled with commercial plates waiting for someone to load my truck. Took longer than I expected, so they called to have me ticketed.
What a bunch of whiners.

Volunteered for the first time tonight, and it was great. It was sad to hear that several days a week they don’t have any volunteers. The only reason I found them was through searching Unilocal.I was looking for a place to volunteer for Thanksgiving and all the usual places were turning away volunteers, so happy I found this awesome organization.
The pros– the kitchen is great! Big, clean, and well equipped. The staff is great, I was very late to my shift and the receptionist was understanding and the kitchen staff welcomed me in and took the time to get me up to speed. The amazing kitchen staff were personable, talented, dedicated and made the experience fun. I got to sample the food and it was delicious! The dinning rooms were so homey and lovely. The families were so appreciative and the kids were so cute!
The cons– none.
I am inspired to come back again and again.

I have been volunteering here for a little under a year. And I am truly bummed to be leaving the bay area and this is one of the reasons. Not only have I amassed an impressive collection of my own arts and crafts. But it really is just a great organization. Perhaps that is why this wonderful city dedicated an entire week of the year to it. The kids are great and totally excited to do anything and everything and the parents seem a bit more at ease being there. I will continue to send $ the way of RH after I, sadly, leave.
Actually I am on my way in right now! I am excited to see some of the kids and hang out and not worry about the petty shit that doesn’t really matter for the next few hours.

Raphael House does amazing work — People who devote themselves full-​time to working with those who have fallen through the societal safety net are truly amazing and deserve your support. They really work with the families to get them back on their feet and to equip them with the tools they need to get back into society. For the children, it’s the not knowing what’s going to happen from one day to the next when they’re homeless that can be really damaging, so the program is focused on creating stability and routine for the kids: family dinner at the same time every day, mandatory family time (no TVs) and mandatory bedtimes for the children. And right before bed is song time, and then a story, and then we take the guardian angel candle and drop all the kids off at their respective family rooms one by one.
If you are looking for a place to volunteer or donate, this is a good place.

I’ve volunteered at Raphael House and it is a fantastic experience. Not only have I been able to do something fun, I cooked dinner there with my co-​workers — dinner for 80 people that is, but the place is impressive. It’s clean and beautiful, everyone is so friendly — nothing like what I’d expected from a homeless shelter. I’m going to start getting more involved there. I was really inspired.