Sunny Hills—
Healing Through
Creativity
By Mary Denton
I
f you’ve called Marin County
home for any length of time,
you’ve probably heard of Sunny
Hills Services. While the name
conjures up images of a garden
center or retirement home, Sunny
Hills is in fact a lauded nonprofit
that has been serving the county’s
most vulnerable children and youth
for more than a century.
Sunny Hills was founded in 1895 as
an orphanage, in an era when many
local children were left parentless
due to a severe economic depression
that resulted in broken families.
The children lived on a beautiful
campus in San Anselmo, where they
16 MARIN ARTS & CULTURE
learned to farm, and were educated
and nurtured by a caring staff
that mentored their path toward
successful adulthood.
To meet the changing needs of the
local population, and in keeping
with best practices for young
people, Sunny Hills Services has
spent the past century evolving,
today offering unique programs
that serve young people who face
daunting challenges.
We all have problems, but some
young people’s lives are genuine
nightmares. They have a severe
mental illness. They’re physically
and emotionally abused. They’re
addicted to drugs or alcohol.
They’re abandoned by foster
parents. They gravitate to gang
life. They’re rejected because of
their sexual identity. They’re angry,
frustrated, frightened, confused,
hopeless and alone. These young
people must be helped before they
end up on the streets, in jail or even
in the morgue.
That’s where Sunny Hills comes
in. They help young people
in the most difficult, heart-
breaking circumstances to feel
accepted, develop life skills, and
experience, often for the first
time, the sensation of hope. They