Raphael House
Raphael House is an innovative shelter in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, California  which provides transitional housing and support programs for parents and children who are suffering from homelessness.
Established in 1971 at Gough and McAllister Streets, Raphael House was the first shelter for homeless families in the city.   It has been located on Sutter Street since 1977.   It is a non-profit organization which accepts no government funding, relying upon San Francisco Bay Area philanthropy which has become increasingly innovative.  (Not all offers of support, however, are accepted.)
From 1979 through 1999, Raphael House also operated Brother Juniper's Restaurant, an on-site breakfast cafe named for Saint Juniper.  Though it had brought Raphael House a welcome albeit small net profit for twenty years, the expense of renovating its kitchens and the need for additional space for the children's afterschool tutorial center combined to require its closure.
Raphael House was established in 1971, at a time when there were no other shelters for homeless families in the city. And its focus  beginning with the brightly colored children's paintings that line the halls  is still emphatically on kids.      The building has the feel of an old-fashioned home, with braided rugs on the floors and flowered tablecloths in the dining rooms. The residents have agreed to spend several months in a benign, nurturing boot camp, with curfews and rules of behavior as well as counseling and practical training. Each of the 20-odd families living here has its own tiny room, but much of everyday life takes place communally, interlaced with the kinds of rituals that provide both stability and variety. Parents and children eat breakfast and dinner together, seated as families. In the evening, the little ones gather in the "Children's Garden" to listen to stories and then are led, pajama-clad, in a singing procession to their rooms. In mid-winter, Santa Claus pays a visit, bringing toys and good things to eat; so do St. Nicholas and Santa Lucia.       Raphael House exists entirely on contributions, along with the earnings of its thrift shop and  Brother Juniper's restaurant.  We started in the basement of what was obviously a former hospital, winding our way past piles of donated furniture and bins of bedding, which will accompany residents when they move into places of their own. The shelter has strong ties to the Eastern Orthodox Church, and I kept being introduced to bearded men in long black robes, including one tall beanpole of a priest, Executive Director Father David Lowell. We looked in at the day care center, which has just graduated four parents from its first class of licensed day care providers. The room was nearly empty  most of the children were on a field trip  but one tiny girl who had just awakened from her nap soberly waved a bottle of juice in our direction.      But what about the roof garden? It's a playground. The wooden deck is long enough for a six year old to get a good run across the middle, and at the sides large pots of plants wind in and out among playhouses and low climbing structures. In an area with little open space, the children of Raphael House can play in the sky.