This past week, Julie Davis and her son, Charlie Wagner, checked into Kiwanis Family House for a one-night’s stay. We last saw Charlie in 2013 as a happy three-year-old boy. We are pleased to share an update with all of you. In December 2009, Julie went in for a routine ultrasound appointment at 29 weeks pregnant when it was detected that her water had broken. Concerned for her health as well as her baby’s, her doctor flew her from Redding to Sacramento to give birth to her premature son at UC Davis Medical Center. … [Read more...]
Crisis Doesn’t Take A Holiday | Sandy’s Story
Medical crisis is so disruptive of the routines of our lives. Sandy is a retired nurse. She lives in Grant's Pass, Oregon. In the past 26 months (since October 2015), Sandy has stayed at Kiwanis Family House on 31 occasions. Each time she has made the long drive from home to Sacramento, to support and advocate for herson, who has been battling a severe form of cancer for several years. She has stayed with us a total of 141 nights on those visits, some stays were for one night, most for two or three, a few were longer. As this is being … [Read more...]
Paying It Forward
Over the weekend, we received the following message on our Kiwanis Family House Facebook page: ***** Hi! A little over seven years ago, my mom and I spent a night at the Kiwanis House. We spent the night because the next morning I had a doctor's appointment at Shriners Hospitals for Children - Northern California! I was abruptly diagnosed with extremely sever scoliosis at twelve years old. At Shriners Hospital I underwent two extensive operations a week apart to correct my … [Read more...]
Our Life Went Into Free-Fall | One Family’s Story
At the family's request, we are neither using real names nor showing photos of family members in this story. In mid-October 2017, Maria was in Napa County serving as an in-home caretaker for an elderly woman. Multiple wildfires were ravaging the surrounding region and the two women were forced to evacuate the home. They reportedly headed for the residence of the older woman's son as it was in a safe zone. Little is known about what transpired in the ensuing days but the case remains under … [Read more...]
A Message for our Sponsor Clubs
Sponsor clubs should have recently received Kiwanis Family House's annual dues notice. As always, we would be grateful if all KFH sponsor clubs would send in their $100 annual dues in a timely manner. In that recent mailing, we included a separate form requesting each club President to identify one club member to serve as a KFH liaison. We included a brief statement about the simple tasks club liaisons would perform. Another copy of that request is here. We want to … [Read more...]
Endings and Beginnings | Rita Germain
Welcome to the final issue of Kiwanis Family House’s monthly newsletter, House Talk. Over the years, beginning with a paper newsletter that was mailed to subscribers, House Talk has been a way for supporters and friends to keep up with the news of Kiwanis Family House on a monthly basis. Now, 18 years later, the news cycle has accelerated, and in order to keep pace, we are retiring the monthly newsletter format in favor of a series of short, targeted stories every month. We promise not to overwhelm you with … [Read more...]
August President’s Message | Guy Blair
This year the Kiwanis Family House (KFH) plans to have a major emphasis on building relationships with Sponsor Kiwanis Clubs and Corporate Sponsors. Our goal at the Club level is to have a KFH Liaison in each Sponsor Club for the purpose of communicating KFH accomplishments, needs, and future activities. We would like every Kiwanis member in our Sponsor Clubs to hear the great things that are being done at the KFH. Next month we will be sending out a request to Sponsor Clubs seeking their nomination of a Club member to serve as a … [Read more...]
“Average” — What’s That? | Charlie Bussey
The “average” guest stays at Kiwanis Family House for about 3 days, stays only one time and we never see them again because their family medical emergency has been resolved. Other guests stay with us over and over as their medical crisis may take longer and require one or more follow up visits or surgeries. This is the story of two of those families. SEAN Sean lives in Texas. In March of 2015, Sean and his wife, Marilyn were visiting their son in Placerville, awaiting the arrival of their grandchild. Sean became ill and was brought … [Read more...]
July Director’s Letter | Dan Germain
Like many Kiwanis members who attended the recent International convention in Paris, we were drawn to some of the city’s landmarks during our stay - Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, the Palace at Versailles, the Hotel Ritz, and the River Seine. Each of these beams its own history, its own legacy, and its own significant impact on the lives of many. I have returned to my desk at Kiwanis Family House (KFH) with these landmarks still fresh in my memory. Far be it from me to associate KFH with the aforementioned wonders of … [Read more...]
July President’s Message | Guy Blair
I am optimistic about the things the Board of Directors will accomplish in the coming year. Last year the Board developed a Strategic Plan that established a good foundation from which we have achievable action items in 2017-18. We have already made changes to our Committee structure and we are working on other changes to our process for electing Board Officers. We lost some very talented people in the retirement of five of our Board members at the end of June, but we also gained some new Board members with gifts and talents that … [Read more...]