Ronald McDonald House

I have to start this by saying, I had no clue what an amazing charity the Ronald McDonald House Charities were until this experience.  I’ve seen the little donation boxes at McDonald’s for years and not really thought much about what those pennies go towards.  Now that I know, my view is forever changed.

The Ronald McDonald Houses set up in areas where there is a large medical community to provide a home for families whose children are undergoing medical treatment.  Some families only need to stay for a night, others are there for several months at a time.  Some of the children are inpatient at area hospitals so the parents are able to stay close by, and other children are going through outpatient treatments and are able to stay with their family

When we got the call that we had a spot at the Ronald McDonald House of Baltimore, I was so relieved.  I had priced out some other temporary living arrangements and just wasn’t sure at all how we would pay to live somewhere else for a whole month.  So to find out they had a room for us, at $15/night, took a huge burden off.  That was only the beginning though…

When we got there we found out we had a free place to park, a free shuttle to take us to and from the hospital each day, pantries full of free food we could help ourselves to, a laundry room with free detergent, free toiletries, are you sensing a theme here?  Ryder has heard me tell this story so many times (it’s just so humbling!) that this is how he tells it “We’re staying at the Ronald McDonald house, and guess what, everything is FREE!” 

Beyond that, they have a volunteer calendar where families, company’s, and various organizations are scheduled months out to come to the house to cook breakfast, cook dinner, and have activity hour with the kids every single evening.  They even have volunteers on the weekend to come bake in the house so the house smells good and there are always fresh baked goods for the families for the week.

Activity hour is something Ryder looks forward to every evening.  He has done so many fun things, from playing Bingo with the Under Armour staff, watching a magic show, playing Duck Duck Goose with students from University of Maryland, potting plants, painting, taking pictures on a Green Screen with the Entertainment Playground, having story time, playing charades, it’s always something different and always something fun and uplifting for the kids.

Each family has a cubby where they can get mail, but they also get surprises in there from people who randomly drop off or send treats for the families.  There was even a day where the NFL sent a huge assortment of stuff that they set out for the families to have.

The Baltimore house is a 3 story building with 36 rooms.  The first floor has the office, a huge playroom for the kids, a piano room, a work out room, a game room, and a living room.  The 2nd and 3rd floors have the bedrooms and huge kitchens with dining areas attached. 

There’s a huge map of the world on the wall and when you get there they give you a pin to place on the map showing where you came from.  There were literally pins from all over the world.  How lucky are we that we have access to some of the best medical facilities in the World within driving distance??  Just in our stay we have met families at the house from Brazil and at Kennedy Krieger from Saudi Arabia.

It’s just amazing that a place like this even exists.  Each family there is dealing with some sort of struggle, some more severe than others, so imagine what a blessing it is to not have to worry about where they’ll stay or how they’ll eat.  It’s such a positive environment that no matter what you’re going through, you’re going to see people smiling and hear kids laughing, and have other parents to relate to that cheer each other on.  Like a big family of strangers! 

I know how thankful I am for the Ronald McDonald House, and our situation doesn’t even compare to some others that we’ve met.  Somehow, someway I plan to give back to this place.  My friend Nicki feels the same way and has already come up with some ideas on how we can work together to volunteer and send donations.  Whatever we come up with I’m sure we’ll be sharing!

Continue to pray for the families if you can, that’s the biggest and best thing any of us can do, and pray for the RM House too.  It takes a lot to make that place run, day in and day out, and they do it because it makes a difference in so many lives.  I know it has made a huge difference in ours and I will be forever thankful to them.