Project Report
| Jan 5, 2012
Winter at the Raphael House shelter
By Lisa Marshall | Communications Manager
![Toys from the 2011 Holiday Gift Drive]()
Toys from the 2011 Holiday Gift Drive
Winter is always one of the most inspiring times of year at Raphael House. In December we hold our annual Holiday Gift Drive, where local individuals and businesses drop off thousands of toys, clothing and gifts, volunteer groups sort them into categories like "Gifts for Mom," "Blankets" and "Winter Clothing" and then all the families we've served in the last year are invited to come and pick out gifts.
The shelter gets decked out in all kinds of holiday gear and our staff entertains the kids while moms pick out and wrap gifts. Every year the generosity of the donations is stunning - this year one local store donated more than 1,000 sets of new kids pajamas! We had hundreds and hundreds of brand new toys and books. And residents at local retirement homes donated dozens of handknit scarves and hats for moms and kids.
It's the generosity of donors like you who make this kind of inspiring program possible. You keep our doors open and our shelter staffed. You give us the time and energy to recruit enough donations to make sure that every family has a warm and happy holiday season. You make it all possible. We really can't thank you enough.
Warm wishes for a happy and safe 2012 from all of us at Raphael House of Portland.
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Oct 4, 2011
Autumn at Raphael House's Emergency Shelter
By Lisa Marshall | Communications Manager
Fall has arrived here at Raphael House. The leaves are turning, the kids have gone back to school and it seems impossibly quiet in the shelter during the day. In the evenings, volunteers arrive for Homework Club, and soon we'll be picking up a load of pumpkins from the farm and celebrating the changing season with our annual Harvest Festival.
In every season, we try to make Raphael House seem as much like a home as possible. So in the cooler months, we enter to a shelter redolent with the scents of apples, cinnamon and baking. We encourage kids to explore the world around them by researching fallen leaves. We invite residents to decorate their shelter home for the season. And at the end of October, all the kids living in our shelter go trick-or-treating door to door right inside Raphael House. It's one of my favorite times of year.
But as always, these wonderful things also serve as a reminder of what these families have left behind. They haven't just left their homes - in many cases they've also left all their belongings. Their photo albums. Their school supplies. Last year's Halloween costume. At Raphael House we do what we can to fill all those needs as we work toward realizing a world in which every family is safe in their own home.
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Jun 29, 2011
Summer at Raphael House - new beginnings
By Lisa Marshall | Communications Manager
Summer is my favorite time of year at Raphael House. The kids are out of school, which means the shelter is full of families and action all day, every day. Our Youth Program offers lots of activities such as swimming classes, trips to the beach, family movie nights and cooking classes utilizing the amazing produce coming out of our shelter vegetable garden. It's great to come into work and see kids playing in the sprinkler and shouting excitedly about the size of a head of lettuce.
Just as the stay in our shelter is a time of new beginnings for the families who live here, summer is also a time of new beginnings for Raphael House as an organization. Our fiscal year ends on June 30th, and each year we look forward to starting with a fresh slate on July 1st, as well as to reaping the benefits of a successful year's work - along with lettuce, each summer we also get a new crop of fully trained volunteers, ready to staff our crisis line and offer a new and exciting range of programs to the families we serve!
Thank you for supporting this life-saving work, and I hope you're enjoying the summer as much as we are!
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