Volunteering - Ronald McDonald House

Welcome to the first installment of (703) Mommy and Me’s Volunteering expose’. Every few months we will be highlighting a different organization in the DC/Metro area that offers volunteering opportunities. Let us know if there is an organization that you would like us to highlight or always wanted to know more about. Our inaugural outing took place at the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in DC. We feel very honored to have been able to cook for the families staying at the house. The whole experience was extremely moving and the appreciation from the families for the home cooked meal meant so much to me and Dori.

Background:
The mission of Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children. RMHC provides four programs in the DC Metro area:

~Ronald McDonald House®
Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Washington, D.C. supports two Ronald McDonald Houses. Each House serves as a “home-away-from-home” for families of seriously ill children who travel to the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area to be treated for cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. In our area there are two houses, one in DC and another in Fairfax, located on the grounds of the INOVA Fairfax. The house in DC can support up to 26 families, which includes 4 isolation suits for bone marrow transplants and provides support to several hospitals in the area, including, Children’s National Medical Center, Georgetown University Hospital, and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. The VA house can support up to 8 families. Families’ average stay is from 4-8 weeks long, but can go longer. One family even stayed 27 months.


~Ronald McDonald Care Mobile®
Each weekday morning the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile travels from Georgetown University Hospital to Washington, D.C.’s wards 5, 6, 7 and 8 where children grow up in underserved neighborhoods. This Clinic on Wheels offers a range of free services, including: well child visits, newborn exams, social service consults, immunizations and ophthalmologic exams. The underlying theme to the care given is not only about treatment but also health, wellness, education and relationship-building. The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile treats the whole child
while offering people time, compassion, and respect.

~Ronald McDonald Family Room®
Open 24 hours a day for the last 15 years, Ronald McDonald Family Room, located in the Hematology/Oncology Department of Children’s National Medical Center, is a place of comfort and solitude for patients’ parents. Parents of children going through various forms of treatment use this space to check emails, make phone calls, or sit in peace for a moment of rest.

~Outreach Program
As part of the RMHC mission to improve the health and well-being of children in the community, RMHC supports other local nonprofits that also positively impact the lives of children in our area.

Our Experience:
The day started with running to various stores to pick up food for our dinner. We arrived at the
house at 4pm. The RMH asks that you have dinner ready for service by 6pm. After unloading the food we began the mise en place. Our menu for the night was a veggie baked pasta and a meat baked pasta with fresh tossed salad and cookies (purchased at Costo). As we chopped and simmered sauce, a few parents would sporadically wander in. The drained expression on their faces from pure exhaustion was heart breaking. Stories were exchanged between Parents of the just crippling strength that they had to face that day, or how long they have been at house and how long they expect to stay. Had they been here before? What was the diagnosis on their child? Sad stories of unexpected steps backward in progress and families being split up due to siblings being in school. It brought tears to your eyes. The strength for their children that they had to provide each day and the emotional battles that they faced day in and day out, some of them without their spouse or loved ones by their side, was heart breaking.

As the sauce released savory fragrances, one woman walked in and commented how entering the dining room reminded her of walking into her Grandmother’s house. We assembled the dishes on the counters and a few families arrived to scoop up the goods. When serving the meals you will actually only see a few of the families. Most are at the hospital by their loved one’s side. After about 45 minutes we began scooping some of the pasta into Tupperware so that families could grab the dinner at any point from the fridge to heat up. We cleaned the dishes, packed up and headed out. Our hearts felt heavy for what the families were facing each day, but grateful that we were able to provide them a hearty home-cooked meal. We had such a positive experience at the RMH that we hope to cook for them several times a year.

Volunteer Options:
Onsite:
~Prepare a meal for the families staying at the home
~Prepare “Grab and Go” meals for the families
~Help out with household chores – you can make it a group outing!

Offsite:
~Sew comfort quilts or blankets for the families
~Prepare activity bags for the children
~Host a drive to collect items in the house that are needed

If you are interested in volunteering or donating to the RMH
please contact them at:

RMH DC location:
Contact – Nicole Ritchie
Phone – (202) 529-8204
Email – rmhcdc@gmail.com
Website - http://rmhc.greaterdc.org/

RMH Northern VA location:
Contact – Barbara Clarke
Phone – (703)698-7080
Email – Barbara@rmhcdc.org
Website - http://rmhc.greaterdc.org/