Ruth Hall: Creating Homes Away From Home

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (CBS 5)  -- An Episcopal nun from England is this week's Jefferson Award winner and has created a unique place for some special visitors in the Bay Area to call home.

Family Link is a home Sister Ruth Hall created for families in San Francisco visiting relatives with life-threatening illnesses.

In the heart of the Family Link home, you'll find Hall, knitting quietly at the kitchen table, and listening. Behind each word -- each conversation -- a life's story. This is the place families come, from around the world, to find a home away from home at one of the most difficult times in their lives.

"We provide a safe place for people from out of town to come and stay while they are visiting someone in the hospital," Hall said.

Families like Darlene Wade Anderson's.

"My brother, Lynn Wade, has been diagnosed with a terminal illness," she said.

Darlene says her family's burden is lighter not only because of the emotional support she receives, but because the house allows her family to be close to the hospital during the most difficult time.

Family Link was born in the mid 1980s when AIDS was devastating the San Francisco community. Hall and her fellow Franciscan nuns opened the guest room in their convent to accommodate visiting relatives. Soon they were overwhelmed with demand, a need Hall couldn't ignore.

Now they have their own home. Today only a third of the guests come because of AIDS-related illnesses. Families come to support loved ones with cancer, heart disease, or trauma. They only have to pay what they can.

There are six rooms, a washing machine, computer, and free food.

Janis Berwitt has volunteered to cook at Family Link for 10 years. She's seen miracles around that kitchen table.

"I've just seen the sharing of information and this camaraderie happen with people, and also that sometimes leads to laughter in the house where there hasn't been much laughter for them," Berwitt said.

Darlene added, "The name speaks for itself: Family Link -- the chain cannot be broken and without a place to stay here, we'd be separated in a sense."

For creating an affordable home away for home for families tending to the needs of the seriously ill, this week's Jefferson Award in the Bay Area goes to Sister Ruth Hall.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)