Life(house) with Julia

Meet Julia- She is a part of the weekly activity based program, TRIP which supports teens from ages 13 to 22. The program is an opportunity for teens and young adults with developmental disabilities to foster physical, intellectual, and social development skills in a community based setting.  They currently have a weekly bowling meet-up on Thursday’s here in San Rafael.

It’s not hard to spot Julia in a crowd; her bright blue cap is covered in colorful anime buttons that she collects at different Anime Cons from her favorite artists. She readily admits that she is addicted to growing her collection but is very particular in choosing buttons that are true to her. 

Most of the buttons are Anime characters but some are odes to adolescent slang like “I ship it”- according to Urban Dictionary, it means: “when you imagine two people would be good in a relationship together.”   

Although she is an avid gamer girl and a millennial, Julia says that people use their cellphones too much. When she isn’t gaming, Julia likes to draw in her sketchbook that she brings just about everywhere. In the pages of her sketchbook, she has the freedom to illuminate her art around the theme of symmetry. Each shape is precisely outlined and colored in with sharpie, solely defined by the bleeds of the ink into the paper.

For more information or to inquire about activities with TRIP, please contact Mike Sus at msus@lifehouseagency.org.

Stepping it Up

As part of our mission here at Lifehouse to increase the quality of life for our residents, we aim to integrate health and wellness living skills in our programs. On June 4th, with the help of Filice Insurance as our sponsor, we launched the pilot run of a new Resident Wellness Program. Equipped with Fitbit trackers, four Lifehouse residents, Bomun, Anne, Patti and Kasie, embarked on an eight week wellness challenge. Badges could be earned every week for walking 1,000 - 10,000 steps in a day as well as walking 3,000 steps or more for multiple days in a row. Each resident sets individualized goals for themselves. Anne was determined to hit 4,000 steps a day, and Bomun was determined to increase the length of his daily hikes each week. As a whole, each of the residents were inspired to lead more well balanced and healthy lifestyles. In the end, Kasie came out victorious by logging 190,489 steps and earning 43 badges! Go Kasie!

Life(house) with Katie

Meet Katie- She has been with Lifehouse since 2006. She started out at the Corte Madera house and has since moved to the Montecillo house in the Independent Living Service (ILS) program. She is a lover of music, art and animals.    

As a part of her goals in the ILS program, Katie volunteers one day a week at the Ben & Biscuits of Marin to stay motivated and active. Helping take care of the pups here is a great way for her to practice organizational skills and caring for her own pet. Katie’s favorite furry companion is a cat named Lily. She adopted her from the Pet Cottage in San Anselmo.

Art is a natural medium for Katie to express herself. She is constantly streaming music via Spotify to fuel her creative side when she is working on her art at San Anselmo’s Cedars Fine Art Studio. Katie has an extensive  artistic style, meticulously creating modern geometric works as well as pieces inspired by animals and nature. Her fascination for marine life often reveals itself in her paintings in the form a dolphin. Katie says the dolphin is her spirit animal and even got to swim with them once on a trip to Mexico with her family.

Supported living programs can help individuals, such as Katie, live inspired, purposeful and independent lives. Subscribe to our email list for more updates on Lifehouse residents, volunteer opportunities and how to donate.

Join Us

Congratulations!

Please join us in celebrating the recent promotions of Kate O Connor, Michelle Condit, Claudia Silvia, and Lisa Ann Carbone. We look forward to seeing what their wealth of experience will bring to the continued success and growth of programs supporting Lifehouse residents. Your dedication, energy, and enthusiasm is an inspiration to us all. Congratulations!

Kate O'Connor

Michelle Condit

Claudia Silva

Lisa Ann Carbone

Co- Director of Programs & Operations 

Co-Director of Programs & Operations

Senior Manager

Senior Manager 

life(house) with Stephanie

Meet Stephanie- she has been with Lifehouse for twelve years and currently lives at Montecillo House. The Independent Living Service (ILS) program is perfect for her since it helps give her the tools she needs to be as independent as possible. She loves being social and getting out and about in the community.

Stephanie is a social media maven and selfie-artist. Collecting scores of photos along the way for her next great post, she enjoys going to the beach, the movies, and local events such as the Marin County Fair. Her favorite part about social media is that it allows her to express herself while connecting to others.

Another passion of Stephanie’s is travel. Her parents both made careers in the airline industry so, you could say that she was bit by the travel bug at a young age. Many of her travels have been road trips with her family throughout the Midwest. Her next planned trip is for Florida this fall but she hopes to travel abroad someday. The enrichment of experiencing different cultures is exciting for Stephanie. She has her sights set on England, France and Italy.

When Stephanie isn’t out and about with friends or dreaming up trips, she works as a Courtesy Clerk at Safeway. One of her goals through the ILS program is to save and budget her money. She is currently saving up to buy the IPhone X to boost her social media game. Stephanie will be celebrating six years of employment this month. Congrats!

Preview of 17th Annual RCP Tiburon Mile

Coming up on Sunday,

August 19th!

by Peter Maync and Rand Crook

(Article originally published in the Belvedere-Tiburon Magazine)

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It is said that deer were known to cross the waterway between Tiburon and Angel Island, but I never believed it. Yet humans do it every year, with and without wet suits!

9:00 am Sunday August 19, Angel Island. Months of training have come to this. Crowds will gather, on shore and in boats and kayaks, to witness approximately 800 swimmers, donning speedos or wet suits, aged 6 to 82, dive into the choppy, frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay, hoping to win this one-mile nautical race across the Raccoon Straight to Tiburon’s Sam’s Anchor Cafe. The shotgun will be raised, in great anticipation, signaling the start, featuring some of the top international open water swimmers, national, Olympic and Special Olympic champions, including US Open Water National Champion, Dave Heron; 2016 Olympic Open Water Gold Medalist from the Netherlands, Ferry Weertman; and the Italian Open Water National Swim Team. But entire families and University swim teams will also compete for the 17th year in this annual event, the world’s premier open water swim, that has raised over $1.5 million for charity since 1999. RCP Tiburon Mile Founder, Bob Placak, is a former elite swimmer himself and the owner and President of Robert C. Placak & Associates Insurance Services. He says, proudly, standing elbow to elbow beside his son, wife and entire family, racing with them, ranks among his favorite life moments.

Bob’s goals are three-fold: perpetuate a world-class international open water swimming competition, donate 100% of its proceeds to charity, and local, community-building. Besides our annual Classic Car Show, there is nothing else quite like the RCP Tiburon Mile Swim. So, register at rcptiburonmile.com as a swimmer, or for nearly 200 volunteer opportunities, including body-markers, registrars, and kayak and boat monitors.

This year’s swim event is in support of Lifehouse, a non-profit which, since 1954, has served people with developmental disabilities. Nancy Moody, Lifehouse President and C.E.O., is pleased to work with Bob and this wonderful event. (Please see annexed sideboard).

A long-time supporter of the RCP Tiburon Mile Swim is Bill Price, who has four-times won the Mayor’s Cup, awarded for the fastest time from start to finish by a Belvedere or Tiburon resident, and who has done so much for this major event.

Robert Placak & Nancy Dow Moody with RCP Tiburon Open Mile Swim Trophy (Photo by  Renee Maync) 

Life (house) with Teodros

Meet Teodros- He has been a Lifehouse resident for the last six years and currently lives at Laurel House group home. Teodros’ polite temperament and genuine personality makes him delightful to chat with and be around. Like all of our Lifehouse residents in the Independent Living Service (ILS) program, Teodros sets goals for him to live as independently as possible and receives guidance from our expertly trained direct service professionals who help execute his plan to reach them.

Teodros’ current goals are becoming more organized and disciplined in recording and managing his appointments and weekly schedule, budgeting and saving money, and learning kitchen safety and to cook on his own. With sharpening these skills, Teodros hopes to find a job or volunteer position and to be able to move on to an even more independent living situation with less staff support.

In his free time, Teodros enjoys getting out and about in the community. He speaks fondly of spending time with Lifehouse resident Chloe. Together, they venture to the movies and museums. They also share a love for music and dance. You can see them showing off their dance skills at the annual Great Chefs and Wineries resident performance!

Are you interested in art, travel or Sci-fi? Then you and Teodros will get along just fine. He has an extensive and dynamic book collection that can take you on many adventures, from the Amazon rainforest to the fantasy world and chronicles of The Hobbit. His most prized of them all is H.G. Wells’ Time Machine.

Teodros’ enthusiasm for Sci-fi animation and cartoons have led him to take animation classes at Alchemia day program once a week. For the rest of the week, he attends the Autisry Studios program, which is geared towards facilitating learning experiences in education, vocation, and physical fitness. Particularly, this program supports Teodros in taking courses at College of Marin. He completed a math course just this last semester.

At Lifehouse, it is believed that the combined efforts of day and supported living programs can help individuals, such as Teodros, live inspired, purposeful and independent lives.