"Recognizing how fortunate my family is and knowing it is our responsibility to work toward assisting those less fortunate, I feel lucky to be able to contribute to solutions to the many problems facing our society," says Sunny Hills Board member and donor Bruce Raabe.

Bruce is the Managing Member at Collins & Company, a wealth management firm based in Larkspur. As managing member, he works closely with his staff managing investment portfolios for local non-profit foundations and high net-worth families. He lives in Kentfield with his wife Theresa and their children Brooke and Jordan. Bruce was introduced to Sunny Hills Services by a friend who was on the Board of Directors. That introduction led to a tour of the facilities and exposure to some of the many children who are benefiting from Sunny Hills programs.

He has been on the Sunny Hills Services Board of Directors since 2003, where he has made a major impact on the Finance Committee and through his leadership around various agency initiatives, including the annual Board Raffle Booth and the recent playground build that happened through a grant from KaBOOM and Home Depot.

Bruce believes that it is especially important to give back to the community on a local level. "Most of the children served by Sunny Hills are from right here where we live; it is important to me to be involved with helping the disadvantaged children that often go unnoticed in our affluent community. These children are victims of their environment. Their condition often reflects poor role models, and sometimes years of untreated mental illness. By supporting Sunny Hills, I am helping the children in treatment there to become productive members of society, and that means that I am also helping my community to have stronger citizens. Sunny Hills remains one of the few agencies in our community committed to this mission."

Sunny Hills' long history of success is also important to Bruce. "For over 100 years Sunny Hills has been working to successfully transform the lives of thousands of children and their families. Look at the kids entering and leaving this program and you can see the amazing transformation that occurs through the agency's committed, passionate, professional staff. Kids leave this agency with hope and opportunity they never imagined possible."

Bruce and his family recently supported the agency's Fund A Cottage campaign, a fundraising drive that is enabling the four residential treatment cottages to get a 'face lift' for the first time in over fifty years. Raabe considers the gift an investment, one with a great return. "Without individual, local funding, Sunny Hills would be gone. Local support is what fills the gap left by state funding, and allows this agency to exist. In return for our support, Sunny Hills takes care of our community's most vulnerable members, and enables them to be successful adults. You can't ask for a better return than that."