SF’s Family House celebrates 30 years of beloved ‘Bobby the Bunny’ at annual egg hunt

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — On a sunny afternoon Thursday, dozens of kids were scrambling at an Easter egg hunt at San Francisco’s Family House. It’s a home away from home for parents and kids undergoing cutting-edge treatment for cancer and other diseases at UCSF.

And if there was some extra energy driving this Easter chaos, it may have been the work of 6-foot-3-inch bunny, Bobby Thomas. Thomas celebrated 30 Years as the party-throwing, egg-hunting, fundraising ambassador in costume, Bobby the Bunny.

“It’s amazing. It’s just, it’s a thrill every year. I just thank God for the ability, the desire, the joy, the energy,” Thomas said.

We first met Bobby almost seven years ago, while he was holding court at his longtime day job as the popular butcher-entertainer behind the meat counter of Andronico’s market in city’s Inner Sunset. That’s where a customer caught him in his bunny suit one Easter decades ago and asked him to appear at Family House.

“And I said, ‘Of course.’ First time I went, I was hooked,” he said.

MORE: Oakland launches 1st-of-its-kind affordable housing project for teachers thanks to nonprofit

Now, after all those decades, he’s retiring, trading the butcher counter for full-time nonprofit work, hoping to continue raising thousands of dollars for causes like Family House.

In the earliest years before it opened, some parents literally slept in their cars if they couldn’t afford a hotel. But after 10 years at their new Mission Bay location, families stay together, cook together, and fight through their treatment journey together in beautiful, specially designed, surroundings.

Malachi Lebeaux is a master gamer and stays with his mom, Charena Jordan, who enjoys the added support.

“Parents supporting each other, being able to vent on good days, bad days, and then the kids kind of interacting and making new friends, Jordan said.

MORE: Fewer low-income students are going to college. A Bay Area nonprofit aims to change that

We caught up with Patricia Rodriguez, who was reading with her daughter Jessenia. She told us without Family House, the commute for treatment would be nearly two hours.

Family House can accommodate about 350 people — about 80 families — and it’s almost always full. Katherine Thompson is director and CEO and says the magic is the work of many committed donors, and at least one special bunny.

“He’s brought so much magic and celebration to this mission. And it’s also really wonderful that his 30-year anniversary coincides with 10 years of Family House, in the Nancy and Stephen Grand Family House in Mission Bay. We are kind of over the moon today,” Thompson said.

“I’ve recruited all my customers, and I’ve recruited all my friends,” Thomas said. “I always say you don’t have to have a bunch of money to volunteer your service and make a difference.”

Thomas has another fundraiser coming up on Saturday, April 25, called Indestructible Kids. It will be held at St. Anne of the Sunset Church Hall 850 Judah Street in San Francisco.