A girl in a Halloween costume at a Children of Shelters event

a brighter todayfor our children

Over 5,000 San Francisco children live in or depend on family transitional shelters.

Children of Shelters is committed to providing these young minds with the transformative educational, enrichment and nutritional support that every child deserves.

Upcoming Events

Please join Children of Shelters for our 23rd Annual

Jingle & Mingle and SantaFest

12/5/2024 & 12/7/2024

The General's Residence - Ft. Mason

Jingle & Mingle - Thursday, December 5th

Please join us for an evening of holiday cocktails, delights, and good cheer!

6:30 PM - LATE

Jingle & Mingle Co-Chairs

Marea Clark, Jennifer Stroud, & Alexandra Slusser

SantaFest - Saturday, December 7th

Please join us for joyful holiday festivities including Gingerbread House Decorating, pictures with Santa, games for all ages, and MORE!

9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Complimentary Valet

SantaFest Co-Chairs

Nicole Holden and Nicole Krouse

Secure Your Sponsorship Package & Tickets HERE

Our Mission

Empowering San Francisco children experiencing homelessness

Children of Shelters seeks to break the cycle of poverty and homelessness currently experienced by more than 5,000 San Francisco youth. Through our educational, experiential and nutritional initiatives, and our best-in-class network of partners, we help these children experience joy, receive critical services and chart a path to a brighter future.

Homeless children are twice as likely as other children to be in poor health.

The Story

A team of individuals committed to helping children in need throughout San Francisco

Children of Shelters was founded in 1995 by philanthropists Summer Tompkins Walker and the late Lois Pavlow with the goal of providing opportunities for enrichment and education to the growing number of San Francisco children living in or supported by family transitional shelters. Over the years, through the contributions of generous individuals and organizations, COS has provided support to thousands of the city's children. Today, the organization is managed by a robust and actively engaged board of directors commited to the COS mission.

Meet Our Team

100%

Our board of directors covers 100% of our operational costs so each dollar you give goes directly to the children and families we serve.

Programs

📚 Education 🎓
COS educational programs offer assistance to our children at every step of their academic journey. From early speech and language therapy to college application assistance, tutoring, and financial aid management, we have a support system in place that is flexible to the needs of each individual.
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🏄🏿‍♀️ empowerment 🎂
Everyone deserves a childhood filled with uplifting and memorable experiences. Through our summer camp program, SantaFest holiday dinner and over 250 annual birthday celebrations, we strive to provide all of our children with essential moments of activity and joy.
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🍎 Nutrition 🥬
We're committed to ensuring all of the COS children have access to a nutritious diet. We provide garden-to-table onsite cooking and hands-on gardening workshops through partners like Yum Chefs that include valuable lessons on healthy eating.
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Annual Impact

Children of Shelters by the numbers

>500

Children Served

>150

Summer Campers

>100

Served By Shadow Therapists

>100

Birthday Bunchers

>50

Cooking Class Participants

>50

Music Class Participants

>50

Art Therapy Participants

Supported By COS College Scholarship Program

How your donations can make a difference

$10,000
Underwrites a portion of the Shadow Teachers' salaries that help ensure the educational success of our children.
$5,000
Supports the revamp of up to 3 community spaces in a family shelter, helping to make these spaces more welcoming & comfortable.
$2,000
Provides six months of cooking and nutrition classes at a shelter.
$1,000
Ensures that 4 homeless children will have the opportunity to experience summer camp.
$500
Provides a month of art or music classes for 30 children at one of our partner shelters.
$250
Provides turkey and pies for our annual Holiday Shelter Dinner.
$100
Helps the Birthday Bunch program to deliver a cake, decorations and a gift to celebrate each child.

Art therapy, buying a school picture, or cooking with family can be grounding during a time of transition.