Tim Griffith Memorial Foundation

Four Years After Tragedy, San Mateo County Non-Profits Announce New Partnership, Expanded Services

Memory of slain Redwood City youth lives on with opening of “Tim’s House”

REDWOOD CITY, CA – San Mateo County community leaders joined the Tim Griffith Memorial Foundation and the Service League of San Mateo County to celebrate the commemorative opening of Tim’s House, a home for young men who are successfully participating in San Mateo County’s BRIDGES Program, an intensive treatment program that focuses on helping drug offenders end the cycle of substance abuse and crime.

Tim’s House is named in honor of Tim Griffith, a BRIDGES Program graduate who was killed following a San Francisco Giants baseball game in 2004. After Tim’s death, his mother, Stacey Redman, founded the Tim Griffith Memorial Foundation to help fund support services like the BRIDGES Program.

For Redman, the opening of Tim’s House marks the fulfillment of a dream to expand the services that helped her son before he died. “Tim was a shining example of how successful the BRIDGES Program is when it comes to rebuilding lives”, said Redman. “I know that Tim would be proud to see that his legacy is working to ensure that more young men like him have access to these invaluable services.”

Tim’s House will provide five young men with a residential environment that delivers support services designed to help them transition back into society. The house will be open to BRIDGES Program participants ages 18 to 35 and will be operated by the Service League of San Mateo County as a part of its Hope House Program. Since 1960, the Service League has been providing treatment, education and other support services to San Mateo County Jail inmates and their families. The Service League’s Hope House program supports access to a variety of health and social service to recently released inmates, ensuring that they are prepared to reenter the community, and greatly reducing the likelihood that they will return to jail.

With the addition of Tim’s House, the Service League will be able to provide residential treatment to 42 clients in 6 separate facilities. “This is truly an example of how to build triumph out of tragedy”, said Service League Executive Director Mike Nevin. “Tim’s family and loved ones will never be the same, but we are truly blessed that they are choosing to honor his life by providing the means to help rebuild the lives of others.”

Through $50,000 annual contributions, the Tim Griffith Memorial Foundation will fund the operating expenses for Tim’s House, where Hope House clients are already living in a residential environment. “Thanks to this new collaboration, Tim’s House clients will participate in their own individual treatment plans that include customized programs developed by Service League case managers”, said BRIDGES Program Services Manager Rich Hori. “These services are proven to greatly reduce the likelihood that individuals will become repeat offenders.”

Based on Service League experience, client programs like those provided at Tim’s House are more successful in turning lives around. This is one reason why the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors recently passed a resolution recognizing the contributions that Tim’s House will make to both in the lives of individual participants and the in community at large.

Earlier this month, Tim Griffith’s killer was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison after he was convicted of second degree murder last May. “For those of us who knew Tim, the opening of the house is not just the fulfillment of a goal,” said Rich Hori. It’s also an opportunity for us to reflect on Tim’s life and a chance for us to celebrate how his legacy will survive to serve so many others.