Being Fully Present

Imagine if you were the parent of a child in crisis. 

What if you had a six year old child with cancer?  Or, an eight year old who falls from a playground climbing toy and has a head injury?  What if you wake up in the middle of the night to your two year old spiking a high fever and vomiting blood?

Your next stop is likely a hospital.  Here in central Ohio, probably Nationwide Children’s Hospital.  Your little one is admitted for what may be a multi-day stay or even and extended treatment period.  You want to be near your child but have no relatives nearby.  You can’t afford a downtown hotel and you probably have nothing more than the clothes on your back with you.

Enter Ronald McDonald House Charities.

This past week, I had the opportunity to tour the Columbus, Ohio Ronald McDonald House (RMH).  Like most people, I knew the RMH provides housing for parents of very ill children.  However, it was eye-opening to learn that the house offers much more than that.

Staffed almost entirely by volunteers, the house is a cheerful, clean, welcoming and really feels like a home away from home.  The Columbus house is the second largest in the world, with 80 guest rooms and 10 continuing care suites for familes whose children need an isolated environment after chemotherapy or an organ transplant.  The day I toured, the house only had 5 available rooms.  There are a lot of families counting on the RMH for assistance.

I was surprised to learn that the house is not majority-funded by McDonald’s.  I don’t know why, but I thought it was.  In reality, just 12% of the $3 million Columbus RMH budget comes from the McDonald’s Corporation charities.  Another 8% comes from Nationwide Children’s Hospital, leaving 80% of the budget – $2.4 million dollars annually – counting on donations.

Community involvement was evident at every turn.  Ohio State Basketball coach Thad Matta and his wife are actively involved in the house and have funded a beautiful, peaceful room for parents to find some calm. OSU football coach Jim Tressel and his wife are in the middle of redecorating a gathering space along an Ohio State themed corridor.  The wives of the Columbus BlueJackets are just starting a project to decorate and upgrade the space for teenagers staying at the house to find some fun.

While those wonderful gathering spaces are important, it’s the day-to-day living needs of the guests that is the real purpose of the Ronald McDonald House.  A clean room, fresh bed linens, a kitchenette stocked with pots, pans, dishes, and food basics.  A bag of toiletries, clean towels, even a fresh change of clothes. A lending library stocked with donated books for all ages, a DVD library, even an assortment of donated toys and games  that parents can wrap for a child celebrating a birthday while at the house or in the hospital. Computer access for parents who want to research and new diagnosis or recommended treatment.  Families are also provided with cleaning supplies to take care of their room during their stay and are asked to clean it before they leave. 

Families are asked to pay $20 per night, but no one is turned away for financial reasons.  This fee doesn’t even come close to covering the actual $100 cost per night to maintain each room – and that’s  where your donations are needed.

Families of seriously ill children need the Ronald McDonald House.  And the Ronald McDonald House needs you.

If you can donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities, click HERE.  To donate specifically to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio, click HERE. If your employer supports community organizations, call - or, better yet, visit – your local house and ask what they need.  It may be financial help.  It may be food to stock the pantry for families or new toys and gift wrap for birthday presents.  The may need volunteers to cook a meal or welcome guests or clean a room.

If you can’t give financially at this time, but you could give an in-kind item or a few hours of your time, next Sunday I’ll share some specific ways that volunteers can help beyond a financial donation.

Consider again, what if you were the parent of a child in crisis?

Images courtesy of Ronald McDonald Charities of Central Ohio.

This entry was posted on February 13, 2011 at 10:04 am and is filed under Sunday Service. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Charity, Community, Family, Health, Life