The Ronald McDonald House and You

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving! We had fun. We took our Thanksgiving feast to our local Ronald McDonald House. It was very nice to see other volunteers there with their families willing to cook there with us for the families staying there. We had stayed at this Ronald McDonald House when I was pregnant with Robert. I had a lot of medical issues and I kept going into premature labor with him, along with him having medical issues as well. The volunteers were just amazing during our stay. We were there for a little over a month, and I was very grateful to have the facility available to us. They create such a homely and comforting environment for families who have children in the hospital, or that are having to do procedures away from home to stay. There are rooms that are kinda like hotel rooms for the families to stay in, an enormous kitchen area with personal fridges and cabinets as well as a huge pantry and restaurant size community fridge, large dining area, several living areas with TVs for relaxing, play room for the kids and a large patio and playground. The Ronald McDonald House is run on donations and staffed by volunteers. The food is donated. Groups and individuals can go and prepare meals for the guests or drop off snacks and meals. When we were there, we saw clubs, families, individuals, and business’s who would come in and volunteer. I know that having to stay there was a blessing for us. My husband had to take off work a lot to stay with me. I had friends that took turns staying with me as well. I had to have someone with me at all times because of the high risk my pregnancy was. With that said, staying over a month at the hospital or a hotel were not even an option because of the cost, so you can see what a blessing this wonderful facility is to families. And families have to leave their jobs when they have kids in the hospital, so the money is tight for them and donating food to these families while they are there is a blessing all in its own. I know that us cooking Thanksgiving for these families was the only way they were going to have Thanksgiving this year. With their children in the hospital, they were not going to be able to be there to cook. Having Thanksgiving ready and prepared when the families were coming in from the hospital was very nice for everyone. The families and volunteers provide each other with emotional support. When the families came in you could see some joy in their faces and they were all very grateful to have us there. 

During the holidays or at any time, if you want to do something for others. Look up your local Ronald McDonald House and ask what you can do for them. There are so many things you can do to help there. There are volunteers that come and do crafting, scrapbooking, cooking, cleaning, or just there for support. There are lots of new parents with infants in the Neonatal units and bringing supplies to teach them how to make a baby blanket, scrapbooks or knitting are a great stress reliever. Taking food or cooking up there is wonderful for the families, because most of them dont have time to cook during the day since they spend most of their time at the hospitals. There are so many different ways you can help, and they are always needing and welcome any help anyone has to offer. Even going in and doing laundry or sweeping is a huge help! I am sure if you are willing, you can find a way that you can help. http://rmhc.org/how-you-can-help/volunteer/