Q: I can find lots of Samaritan Houses around the country - are you all part of the same organization?
A: No. Samaritan House is a popular name for non-profits. Samaritan House San Mateo is an independent non-profit serving San Mateo County in Northern California.
Q: Where is Samaritan House located?
A: Our headquarters are located at 4031 Pacific Blvd., San Mateo, CA 94403. We also have five other sites throughout San Mateo County.
For a map of our service area and locations, please visit here
Q: Is Samaritan House a religious organization?
A: No. Samaritan House is not a religious organization in itself. We are grateful to receive support from congregations of many different faiths to serve our community together.
Q: Is Samaritan House open on public holidays?
A: Samaritan House is closed on the following public holidays and does not have any volunteering opportunities available for one off involvement: New Year’s Day; Martin Luther King Jr. Day; Presidents’ Day; Memorial Day; Independence Day; Labor Day; Thanksgiving Day; Friday after Thanksgiving; Christmas Day. In addition, Samaritan House will close early at 2pm on Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve.
Q: I would like to attend a tour - how do I organize that?
A: Samaritan House provides early morning tours at our main San Mateo site on the second Wednesday of the month from 8:15 – 9:15 am. This provides an opportunity to see first hand the programs and services that are run from this location as well as having an overview of our programs which occur in different parts of San Mateo County. To enquire about joining a tour, please
contact us.
Q: What is the Wee Care program and how can my school get involved?
A: Project Wee Care is a school-based program that helps children build empathy by donating to needy children in their community. Schools participate in four drives each school year, collecting essentials that are distributed to Samaritan House families in our programs. Every item a family receives helps save money that can be used to keep them housed. For those schools who commit to and participate in these drives, Samaritan House offers an opportunity to attend an age appropriate tour of our site to see how they have helped our clients and talk more broadly about the issues of poverty in our community. You can learn more by visiting our
Wee Care pages and then set up a time to meet with your school staff, principal and/ or PTA by
contacting us.
Q: Do you accept furniture?
A: Unfortunately, we are unable to accept furniture. We recommend that you contact St Vincent de Paul or Habitat for Humanity to see if they can accept your donation.
Q: Do you pick-up donations?
A: With the exception of our holiday Program Toy and Food drives, we are not able to pick-up donations of goods. If you are a group, corporation or business interested in making a large or recurring donation, please call us at 650.341.4081
Q: Do you accept used toys?
A: Unfortunately, we are not able to accept used toys. Please contact St Vincent de Paul or Goodwill and see if they will accept your donation.
We do accept, new unwrapped toys to give out in our Holiday Program and these can be brought to 4031 Pacific Blvd., 3rd Fl., San Mateo, CA 94403 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday – Friday.
Q: Do you accept vehicle donations?
A: Yes, we do! Please click
here for more information.
Q: I would like to do a drive - what do you accept and what do you not accept?
A: Thank you so much for your support with in-kind donations! Samaritan House does not have enough storage capacity and so can only accept the donated items that we can give out to clients immediately. We are also only able to accept those items that we are legally able to give away.
Please look through our wish list to learn more about what we can accept.
We are not able to accept: Child car seats, cribs, strollers, household items including furniture, mattresses, bedding, pillows and comforters, towels, adult clothing, electrical items including desktop computers, laptops or mobile phones.
If in doubt about your donation items, please call us to check first. Unsuitable items, or donations that we are restricted from giving out, can end up in landfill at a cost to our organization, both situations we want to avoid.
Q: I have a large amount of donations - can you pickup for me?
A: Samaritan House may be able to help to pickup a large donation of items that are part of a Drive. However, we have limited trucks and drivers and so will need to ensure that there is capacity within our existing pickup schedules. Please
contact us to discuss further.
Q: How can I get help?
A: Please contact our Client Services office at (650) 347-3648 to schedule an appointment with a Case Manager or visit our headquarters at 4031 Pacific Blvd., 2nd Fl., San Mateo, CA 94403 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday – Friday (Thursdays 9 a.m. to 12 p.m.)
Q: Where can I get a meal today?
A: The Samaritan House Dining Room at
The San Mateo Masonic Lodge (303 Tilton Ave, San Mateo, 94403) is open to all Monday – Friday from 4:30 – 6 p.m. Please feel free to dine with us or take your meal to go. Our Food Pantry is located at 4031 Pacific Blvd., San Mateo, CA 94403 and is open Monday- Friday, 9 a.m.-12 p.m. & 1– 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, the pantry provides lunches to go at 12 p.m.
Q: I live outside San Mateo County.
Can I come to Samaritan House for help?
A: We are only able to serve residents of San Mateo County. To find an organization that can help in your area, please call 211.
Q: How do I / we sign up to volunteer at Samaritan House?
A: Visit our
Volunteer Home page to get involved and sign up.
Q: Can children volunteer in your programs?
A: We welcome young volunteers over the age of 12. While 12 to 15 year olds need to be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian. 16 and 17 year olds are able to volunteer in some of our programs if they have a parent (or guardian) signed waiver. The exceptions to this are our Free Medical Clinics, Safe Harbor Homeless Shelter and our Client Service department where all volunteers must be 18 or over. We encourage young children seeking to impact their community to volunteer at home by running drives and fundraisers to help their neighbors in need. For more information check out our
Children, Youth and Family volunteering pages. We appreciate that parents want their children to learn the values of empathy early, and for that purpose we recommend looking into our Wee Care Program in the schools.
Q: I want to help! Where can I get materials to help me run a drive or fundraiser?
A: Thank you! We have lots of information on our Donation Drive pages to help you organize a drive for essential items. And our Fundraising pages also have ideas and materials to help plan a fun event and generate a cash donation for Samaritan House. If you still have questions, you can
contact us and we will be happy to help.
Q: I have some specialist skills - can I use them to help in particular ways?
A: We would love to hear about how your specialist skills could benefit our organization. Please
contact us to tell us more.
Q: Do you have one-off volunteering options that are open to the public?
A: For the most part, Samaritan House relies on support from regular volunteer teams within our various departments. We offer more long term and regularly scheduled opportunities. Check them out by visiting our Volunteer pages. On occasion we may have a one-time opportunity; please contact our
Volunteer Department by email to discuss the options.
Q: We have a large group - can we volunteer?
A: Thank you for your interest. For most of the year, we can place adult groups of 10 or less across our regular program activities in our San Mateo location at Pacific Blvd, Monday through Friday, 9 – 4. In the lead up to the December Holidays, we have opportunities for larger groups to help us in our Holiday Toy Shop hosted at the San Mateo Event Center but this is still limited up to about 25 adults at a time. Despite being a leading organization in San Mateo County, Samaritan House facilities are actually very small so we struggle to accommodate larger groups who can only volunteer together.
Q: How much lead time do you need to organize a group volunteer opportunity?
A: Samaritan House receives a lot of support from corporate and community groups which means that we have groups working with us most weeks. We need to ensure that we have not overwhelmed our staff in the departments that groups will serve, or our dedicated regular volunteers. We will try to accommodate you, but please give us at least 4 weeks notice and a range of days that would work for you, so we can find the best fit, for you and for us.
Q: When is Samaritan House open for volunteering?
A: Most volunteer opportunities with Samaritan House are open Monday through Friday 9am – 5pm. Volunteer shifts are generally 9am – 12 and 1 – 4pm. We have some Monday through Friday early evening opportunities at different locations in the County from 4 – 6pm. Although Samaritan House is closed to clients on Saturday and Sunday, we do have a small number of volunteer opportunities to help with food and grocery preparation at our Pacific Blvd. location in San Mateo between 9am – 12 at the weekend. Safe Harbor Shelter, our Homeless shelter in South San Francisco, has some opportunities on the weekend for small teams of adults over 18 – to host a BBQ or meal and a fun event with residents. To learn more visit our
Volunteer pages.
Q: Why do I need to have and use an email address?
A: We have more than 3,350 volunteers who help us each year. We rely on email to contact you throughout your time as a volunteer with us. We do not send enormous amounts of emails to you – only communications related to your volunteer shift such as closures on that day, new opportunities available and invitations to our annual volunteer events. Email is so essential to us that if do not have an email address, you will not be able to submit an application or volunteer.
Q: I have not been invited to attend volunteer events or sign up for special shifts.
A: We don’t want you to be excluded! It’s possible that your email service is blocking our communications, or that we have you noted as declining email communications in our database. Our database will not send any email to those who have “opted out” or “unsubscribed” from email communication. This opt out covers all future communications of any type from Samaritan House. If you feel you have not been included in an important email, please get in
get in touch by email to let us know that you give us permission to opt you back in to our email communications. Please always check your own email spam filters, as some email services block group emails.
Q: I have some physical limitations - can I still volunteer?
A: Our volunteering opportunities require a range of physical abilities. The physical requirements that are aligned with particular roles are listed in their description. We aim to make accommodations as reasonably as we can. If this is affecting you we will be happy to discuss alternatives with you.
Q: Can I schedule my own shifts using the online tool?
A: For most of the year we do not allow volunteers to schedule themselves. We set up a regular, repeating schedule based on the volunteer’s availability and our current openings. However, for some of the volunteer opportunities in our Holiday Program such as food distributions, meal services and our Toy Shop distribution, we encourage volunteers to sign up to attend shifts themselves using our online tool. Emails will be sent to volunteers as these special opportunities are opened and places are taken on a first come first served basis.
Q: Can I record my service hours using an online tool?
A: Our new volunteer database is not yet enabled to allow volunteers to record their service hours online. Please continue to use the paper time-sheets that are in the areas that you serve. We enter volunteer hours at the end of each month against your record profile.
Q: I need to do community service for court / parole / probation. Can I do that with Samaritan House?
A: Samaritan House does not accept community service ordered by court or as part of parole or probation agreements. We understand that currently these other local organizations may accept volunteers in need of this type of community service: Second Harvest Food Bank; YMCA San Francisco; Habitat for Humanity; LifeMoves; Episcopal Community Services in SF.
Q: Can I volunteer and still receive services from Samaritan House?
A: You cannot volunteer with Samaritan House if you or a member of your household are receiving services from us. This includes medical, dental or food services.
Q: Do you cover my vehicle insurance if I become a volunteer driver?
A: Samaritan House does not provide automobile insurance coverage for volunteers who drive their personal vehicles in connection with agency business or activities. Volunteers may use their personal vehicles for agency business or activities only if they are fully insured under their own personal automobile insurance. The volunteer’s personal automobile insurance will be primary in resolving liability and property damage issues associated with any accident that takes place while the volunteer is driving their own vehicle on agency business or activities.
Q: Does Samaritan House provide Personal Injury Cover to volunteers?
A: Training will be provided to volunteers to minimize the likelihood of accidents or injury while volunteering in their role on behalf of Samaritan House. Volunteers must accept, and acknowledge on their application, that there are risks present in volunteer duties and freely assume those risks and agree to release Samaritan House, its officers, agents and employees from and against all claims for injury, loss, or danger as a result of such duties. In the case of a volunteer incurring an injury which requires medical attention while performing their volunteer role at Samaritan House, the volunteer’s medical insurance will be the primary in resolving the cost of this treatment.
Q: I have to stop volunteering - who should I tell?
A. We understand that circumstances change and you may not be able to continue to volunteer with us. We are very appreciative of all of your support. Please let the Samaritan House staff in the department where you volunteer know, as well as the Volunteering Department so we can keep our volunteer schedules as up to date as possible. As ever,
email is the best form of communication with Samaritan House.
