The Grand Canyon

  Raphael House led 7 teens on a trip to the Grand Canyon for five days. These teens have been part of our Saturday Tutoring Program and have made great strides in the past year to advance themselves academically, personally and professionally in some cases.

  

 We traveled 800-miles to see one of the most spectacular geological formations our country has to offer. See below for our first view of the Grand Canyon, which shows only part of the 277-mile expanse. On day 3, the group took a hike on Cedar Ridge Trail down into the canyon, which can get up to 1-mile deep—that’s 6,000-feet! We didn’t get that far down, but we did get far enough to see the many different rock layers that make the canyon’s walls . We saw compressed layers of shale, limestone, and other iron-rich rock that gives the canyon its distinctive horizontal striations that you can see clearly in the picture below. These rocks are also responsible for the rich reds and blues that become most vibrant later in the day when the sun is beginning to set. It’s taken 17-million years for the Grand Canyon to become the formation that we know today, and it is ever changing.

   Some highlights of the trip were seeing a California Condor, an endangered bird with a  10-foot wingspan, two peregrine falcons, and last but not least our visit to the Hualapai reservation on the West Rim of the Grand Canyon. There, we ironically learned how to be cowboys; we practiced lassoing, (fake) gun-slinging, and archery.

Student perspectives of this trip will be posted in two weeks.

Independence Day Celebration

Food, games, and plenty of sun—there was no better way to spend the Saturday after the Fourth of July than at Raphael House. Numerous AfterCare and Residential families joined Raphael House staff and volunteers for an afternoon on the roof to celebrate our nation’s independence.

          

The many games were a big hit with children young and older. There were balloon darts, giant tic-tac-toe, sack races, three-legged races, and more. Winners received some very festive prizes, from red, white, and blue pinwheels to rubber duckies dressed up as US presidents. There was also face paining for anyone interested. Everyone could see the work of the skilled volunteer face painters as butterflies, princesses, and even spidermen walked around the roof with their families.

 

As often happens after some fun in the sun, hungry guests could choose from hamburgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, potato salad,  fruit, cupcakes, apple pie, and popcorn to eat, all delicious!

 

If a family wanted to take a picture to remember the day by, they certainly could at a photo shop area decked out for the Fourth. Many families took time out to say cheese or to make a funny face at the camera.

 

Thank you to all of those who joined Raphael House for such a fun picnic celebration!

On the Bay for a Day

 

Last weekend, ChildReach took a tour around the Bay in a boat called the Dauntless. We started our sea-trek at historic Pier 45. As we embarked and pulled away from shore we heard the deep, grumbling horn of the SS Jeremiah O'Brien, one of two surviving and fully functioning WWII Liberty Ships. They start up the engines and sound the horn only once a month, our Captain Page informed us, and we were lucky enough to witness it. We took a closer look at the USS Pampanito, another historic WWII sea-vessel. The submarine looked menacing up close, mainly because none of us even saw it until it was looming 50 feet from our boat; the camouflage was incredible. 

As our journey continued, we moved away from war history and closer to natural history. We spied sea lions playing in the bay, and more exciting than anything, DOLPHINS! Well, technically, they are harbor porpoises. We were only able to see them for brief moments; while it was a beautiful day, none of them seemed to want to play outside of the water. They came to the surface for two quick breath-fulls of air at a time. Here is a link to the Bay Nature Institute's article about Harbor Porpoises: http://baynature.org/articles/jul-sep-2011/safe-harbor. The article explains that which we are extremely lucky to see these creatures as they have returned to the Bay within only the last 30 years.

ChildReach and the families of Raphael House had yet another beautiful day in our beautiful City By The Bay.

Kayaking with ETC

    Kayaking on Richardson Bay is always a great experience. Six ladies, all new to kayaking, joined ChildReach on a 5-hour sea-kayaking voyage. 

   The folks at Environmental Traveling Companions, most of them teen-aged leaders and volunteers, have an uncanny ability to make first time water sporters feel confident, safe, and capable.

    Our trip leader, Cheyenne, took us through avenues of house-boats. All of them were so curiously shaped and colored. We saw red houseboats, green house-boats, tall boats, triangular house-boats, long house-boats, and crooked house-boats. It was an absolute wonder that people lived in these houses that float serenely on water. They looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. 

   Our second special treat of the day was seeing harbor seals; we were witness to a baby seal nursing on his mother. It was such a beautiful and touching sight. 

   I hope that other first-timers will join us on a field trip in the future.

Play Time!

On Saturday, Feb. 11th, ChildReach had the wonderful opportunity thanks to Alice Allick to coordinate with the Residential Program and have a family field trip to see a play about this classic fairy tale at the Legion of Honor. We all met at the Legion, where someone read the story of Rumpelstiltskin to the kids as we waited to take our seats. There was much excitement in the air as we entered the theatre and shortly after everyone was settled, the show began.

As the kids were laughing and following along, they learned about the man with the funny name who could turn straw into gold. The audience even got to interact with the actors and help them guess this man’s name: Rumpelstiltskin of course!

After the show, the actors were available for autographs; I think we got every single signature by the time we were done!

Then, we got to walk around the museum for free. The kids especially wanted to see the exhibit of a sculpture of the Medusa’s head. We read about the Greek mythology of Medusa and admired the artwork, entitled The Medusa, that was on loan to Legion of Honor from a museum in Rome, Italy. When we were ready to leave, we also saw some of Lincoln Park on our walk to the bus.

We were a little tired as we road the bus back to Raphael House, but it was worth it—we had so much fun and learned some new things too!

Picture taken from: http://legionofhonor.famsf.org/legion/calendar/childrens-theater-performance-rumpelstiltskin-2

March (Birthday) Madness!

On March 17th, Raphael House celebrated with kids with March birthdays and their families. We all met in Raphael House’s dining room for a Saturday afternoon filled with fun, food, beads, and paint!

In honor of St. Patrick’s day, we had a bead project that was enjoyed by boys and girls alike. Kids could make bracelets and/or necklaces of all sizes and colors, but especially in green, gold, and white. Most kids chose to make jewelry for their moms, and some even for a staff member.

We also had a skilled face painter who decorated the face of any child who asked. There were kids bopping around with shamrocks, pots of gold, and even cars on their smiling faces. Then it was time to eat!

The Raphael House kitchen made a delicious deli platter, along with crackers, pasta salad, salad greens, and fruit galore. Still, everyone knew to save some room for birthday cake. The birthday kids gathered round to blow out the candles as we sang.

The cake, provided by the generous organization, Children of Shelters (COS), was delicious and beautifully decorated—we ate almost the whole thing! Finally, it was time for presents, and along with the fast ripping of paper, there seemed to be excitement in the air about the new surprises, such as books, games, and art supplies. A great way to end the day!

An Afternoon at the Movies...

To start off the month of February, ChildReach invited movie lovers young and old to come to Raphael House on Saturday afternoon to watch the movie Hook, an adventurous twist on the classic story of Peter Pan starring Robin Williams and Julia Roberts (rated PG). Before starting the feature film, we stopped in the AfterCare Building to get the snack no movie would be complete without – popcorn! The kids really enjoyed watching the popcorn crackle, jump, and pop in Raphael House’s old fashioned popcorn making machine. After everyone had their own bag full of popcorn, some pizza, carrots, and juice were handed out and we were ready for the show. The kids thought the projector used to show the movie was so cool, almost like watching on big screen even! We all watched attentively from the comfy big red couches of the Teen Room as the story unfolded. There was laughter from all members of the audience, from the mother and grandmother who came to watch with their children, from the kids themselves, and even once or twice from the baby who shared the afternoon with us. We were not afraid to ask questions about the film if we did not understand something or to repeat a joke we thought was especially funny. If you have never seen Hook, those of us who got the chance to see it with ChildReach this past weekend can assure you that it is a movie worth seeing, one for the whole family. We had a lot of fun watching it together and so who knows, there may be more afternoon movies coming to Raphael House, stay tuned!

 Picture taken from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102057/