Famous Quotes

“…as milk is a necessity to children.”
Captain Robert Dollar upon presenting 42 acres of pasture land as a Christmas gift in 1920

“Give him a chance to see that life can be trusted.”
Penny Hall, quoted in the Examiner, on how you can help an emotionally disturbed child get control of himself. (c. 1895?)

"This is really something…people will actually buy this stuff.”
Fanny Duncan, one of the founders of the Bargain Box

“Every child saved saves the taxpayer.”
Mrs. P.D. Browne, 1898

“ Sunny Hills is not droppable.”
Jean Polland who first volunteered at Sunny Hills when she was 14 years old. In 1992, 69 years later, she was still active with the RossValley Guild.

“It will soon be raised by the ladies who display an untiring energy along those lines.”
Marin County Toscin, February 3, 1900 regarding the raising of $7,200 to finish paying the $19,000 purchase price for the San Francisco Presbyterian Orphanage & Farm.  

“A noble history written and enacted by noble people.”
unknown

“There’s something about this place – it’s so right for children. And something about the children themselves. They come in scared and lonely, sometimes defiant, always pitiful. And they change before our very eyes into youngsters that---well, once a Sunny Hills volunteer always a Sunny Hills volunteer!”
Marion McEniry, Women’s editor, SF Sidelines, The Examiner, date unknown

“We feel every kid deserves every effort we can make to salvage him. And we truly believe that every kid can be better off for having come here.”
Robert McCallie, former Executive Director Sunny Hills Services, Marin Independent Journal, October 3, 1991

"Sunny Hills has been more progressive than most institutions in reorganizing trends and attempting to meet them….Forward-looking action has been typical of the Board of Directors.”
Joseph Reid, Executive Director of the Child Welfare League, October 1955

“We believe that developing a child’s potential requires the identification and nurturing of personal passions, restoring hope, improving self-esteem, encouraging personal and interpersonal responsibility, and providing the tools to meet life’s challenges.”
Joseph M. Costa, Chief Executive Officer, Sunny Hills Services