San Francisco, March 31, 2015—The Board of Directors for Raphael House of San Francisco announced today that it has appointed Benjamin Aune as executive director. Raphael House was founded in 1971 and is the oldest and only privately funded shelter and services program of its kind dedicated to providing short-term housing, rental assistance, and ongoing supportive services to Bay Area families experiencing or at risk for homelessness. Currently the organization is in the process of implementing a three-year strategic plan to grow its overall capacity by 67% to serve an additional 200 families a year by 2017. Aune joins Raphael House with more than 30 years of executive leadership experience in various positions. “This is a pivotal time for Raphael House, and we are delighted to have in Ben Aune a leader with the acumen, experience and compassion to lead Raphael House during our next phase of growth,” said Raphael House Board Chair Kate Smith. “As we expand our Residential Shelter Program and move forward with phase two of our $3 million Foundations for Families campaign, Ben’s leadership will enable us to dramatically increase the number of families we are able to serve each year.” “I feel honored to join Raphael House during this exciting time in its history, said Aune. Raphael House is at the forefront of providing solutions to family homelessness through innovative programming that is proven to work. I look forward to furthering the mission of the organization with its talented and dedicated staff as we grow to serve more families in need.” Prior to joining Raphael House, Aune was president and CEO of Operation Access, a nonprofit that arranges donated outpatient surgical procedures for low-income, uninsured patients throughout the Bay Area. He previously served as executive vice president of the Benedictine Health System, the nation’s largest Catholic provider of services to the elderly with 70 owned and managed hospitals and nursing homes in 10 states. Before that, he was president and CEO of InterHealth, the nation’s sixth largest healthcare alliance at the time, with offices in St. Paul, Minn. and Washington, D.C. Previous to his position at InterHealth, Aune was corporate director of health systems for Honeywell, Inc. in Minneapolis; and prior to that he was executive director of the Governor’s Council on Health Promotion and Wellness for the State of Minnesota. Aune also taught for several years in the mission field of Papua New Guinea, spent six years at a junior high school directing a work experience career exploration program aimed at preventing youth from dropping out of school, and prior to that he directed a residential group home for at-risk adolescents. Aune will be the fourth executive director to lead Raphael House, replacing Amanda Heier, who resigned last fall to assume the position of executive director for the San Francisco General Hospital Foundation.
About Raphael House
Since 1971, Raphael House has been at the forefront of providing Bay Area families experiencing or at risk for homelessness the personalized family-centered solutions they need to build brighter futures. Raphael House is a 100% privately funded and community-supported organization. Our success rate is unmatched: 85% of all Raphael House families go on to achieve long-term stable housing and financial independence. With a spirit of warmth, compassion, and kindness at its core, Raphael House offers families short-term residential shelter and rental assistance, intensive ongoing case management, and a continuum of supportive services, such as career development and job placement, mental health counseling, financial literacy workshops, children’s services, K–12 academic tutoring and mentoring, academic and extracurricular scholarships, and family social activities aimed at strengthening the family bond. Raphael House has served nearly 20,000 children and parents since first opening its doors.
Media Contact
Kim Lessard Sr. Manager of Communications 415.345.7264 (Print this press release.)
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