A Family's Journey

By Steph Boehmer, Assistant House Manager - Chicago Avenue
Ronald McDonald House inside Children's Hospital, Minneapolis

When I arrived to work at RMH-Chicago Ave this afternoon, I was met with great news. A little boy who had undergone major heart surgery had been discharged after morning rounds and the family had headed home. I couldn’t help but reflect back on the difficult journey I witnessed the family endure in just a matter weeks and found great joy in the positive outcome. I had first met this family when they walked through the door the evening prior to their son’s surgery. The mom was exhausted; which was evident in her stance and eyes. The child's father was doing his best to provide whatever comfort he could to mom. Together they explained they were in search of somewhere to get a good night of rest before the rough day they had ahead of them. Sleeping bedside provided no relief due to the constant beeping of machines, nurses passing by on rounds and lack of a comfortable bed. While filling out the registration sheet, the mother struggled to focus on the information provided on the form. The dad stood patiently beside her, guiding her through each portion. I walked them to their overnight room and as I opened the door and turned on the lights, an instant look of relief washed over their faces as they took in the sight of the warmly decorated room with a queen sized bed and private bathroom. The dad exclaimed it was exactly what they needed, while mom expressed heartfelt thanks. The family faced many ups and downs following the surgery, but were able to find refuge in the house; staying many nights in the overnight room and using the hospitality area for meals and respite. There was an evident change in the child's mother, who soon went from looking tired and weary to rejuvenated and focused. Just last night, the father, with a huge smile on his face, came to inform me it would probably be their last night at the House, as they were expecting to be able to return home the next day. I later saw the parents with their older daughter out on the patio enjoying one last Cooks For Kids meal, talking, laughing and looking carefree. It was a complete 180 from the first night I had met the family. Stories like theirs are a great illustration of the journey a family can take, and how the comforts of home can aid them in facing challenges head-on. I feel honored I get to witness the spirit and resiliency of these families, and I will never grow tired of celebrating with them upon hearing that their child is being discharged.

A colorful week at the RMH - Oak Street

What a colorful week at the RMH - Oak Street.

Color abounded at the Oak Street House last week.
One outing was to see the new Smurfs movie...it was very blue and smurfy!!

And we made 51 very colorful, very beautiful tee shirts. We love to see our kids get creative!

There are a few steps to creating these beauties:

First, you need to wrap up the boring, plain white tee shirt with rubber bands....

then the fun begins.... adding all sorts of fabulous colors!!

After adding all that color... the shirt soaks it all in overnight...



















and then...... the shirts are unwrapped, rinsed and washed



















and then we get to see how each one turned out....

unique and gorgeous - just like each person who created them.

Johnstech International Cooks for Kids!

The volunteer meal groups through our Cooks for Kids program make our mission possible. Tonight's group at the RMH - Oak Street is Johnstech International, currently setting up a carnival-themed evening for families. They even brought a cotton candy machine!

Interested in getting involved with Cooks for Kids? Click HERE to learn more!

A crazy, wonderful week at the RMH - Oak St!

WOW! Last week was so great... field trips (rock climbing and seeing some fun movies), go cart rides, a cook out, BINGO, a lemon-aid stand and 144 new beds donated by Tempur-Pedic!

So many wonderful folks from the community helped us...

• The Aquatenniel Ambassadors helped with our lemon-aid stand.
  


• A group of volunteers from St. Paul Heating, Plumbing and Air and students from the U of M helped unload the 3 semis full of mattresses, box springs and frames.
  


• A group from C H Robinson came and helped put the new bed frames together.
  


• The Anoka High School football team ran the stairs of the house while lifting the mattresses and box springs.



• Our neighbors at the dental and medical fraternity helped out as the final beds were put into the rooms as the sun went down!
  


• Many of our regular volunteers came in for extra shifts to help and staff members and their families pitched in too.



• Last, our amazing families even pitched in - moving beds, putting the frames together, vacuuming and being flexible with the chaos.
  
  Here are a couple of fun slide shows of all the excitement....
  be sure to open the slide show to see the captions...
  

The kids rock climbing....
The Lemon-Aid stand...

Check out these happy, helpful faces... we couldn't have done it without all of you. To those folks who were too speedy to be caught by the camera, thank you!

A show of Paula and Anna in their pink shirts moving mattresses!! They worked hard... and notice Paula walking backward.

2 days of bed moving = crazy fun!


Wow, that was a great week. We all hope next week is this fun! Well, maybe we don't need beds next week!

New PSA Donated By FOX Sports North!

Hey Minnesota Twins fans, keep an eye out for our brand new PSA thanks to the generosity of FOX Sports North! They worked with us to create a 15-second PSA that will play throughout the season on FSN.

Watch it here first and let us know what you think!

Summer Events to Benefit RMHC-UM

Summer is a fun yet BUSY time for most of us, that's why we have a calendar of our 3rd party event fundraisers on our website. From motorcycle rides to Lemon-Aid stands, we have all the components of a great Minnesota summer. Click HERE to check out the calendar.

Hosting an event? Email Meredith at mstpierre@rmhc-um.org and we'll include your event on our calendar.

Thanks for supporting RMHC-UM by hosting and/or participating in a 3rd party fundraiser!

RMH Happenings At Oak St April 10-16

Monday

Check out all of the neat-o siblings at the house! When grabbing a treat from the breakfast bar, make sure to find either the picture, or name listed of the current RMH siblings.

Tuesday

Wes was a busy boy outside on Tuesday,making the RMH courtyard an even more beautiful place to play. Stop by the Program Office if you want sidewalk chalk to play with!

Wednesday

Look who came to visit! Nordy, from the Minnesota Wild came to read to the school kids while they ate their lunch.
Thursday

It’s Thursday night, which means off to Target the families go! Every Monday and Thursday night the RMH van brings families to Target from 6:30pm - 8:00pm. Sign-up on the bulletin board.

Friday

The Target group came to make us a yummy dinner! The RMH is grateful for all the meal groups who come to make the families a meal.

Meet our staff- Each week one of the staff members is highlighted...

Meet Donna! She has been at RMH as a member of the development/advancement team for five years. One of her favorite things about her job is meeting new people, and telling them stories about how the RMH helps the families who stay here. Donna loves to take pictures! She frequently takes photos of special activities at the house and also groups who bring things to the house.

Donna lives in River Falls, WI with her husband Terry. She has two children – a daughter and son-in-law who live and work in Chicago, and a son who is in the Navy on an aircraft carrier on the other side of the world. She also has a 4 ½ year old grandson, Donovan. She enjoys playing with him every weekend! Donna is originally from East Tennessee. She met her husband, a native of MN, at the University of Minnesota. She considers MN her home, even though she lives across the border in WI. However, she definitely doesn’t sound Minnesotan when she pronounces the words yellow and orange!

Donna frequently gives tours of the House to donors, so if you see her wondering around the building, shout hello! Her office is across from the small staff kitchen. If you’d like to see early photos from when the house was first opened in 1979, stop in!

Around the house....

Say hello to Ireland! She and her dad like to swing on the wooden swing in the courtyard.

Things to look forward to....

Monday is special cooking night! Come to HOUSE TWO kitchen at 6:30pm and make cute bunny cupcakes.

Feeling a little stressed? At 6:00pm on WEDNESDAY night, there will be chair massages provided. Stop by the HOUSE FOUR fireplace, put your feet up, and relax.

Ronald McDonald House Happenings! A weekly newsletter about the Oak St House

Recently we have begun to publish a newsletter about what has been happening at the House on Oak St. We put it together each week. The families staying here have enjoyed reading it, so we thought we would share it all of you! There has sure been a lot of activity during the past week.....

Monday

Monday Night was volunteer appreciation night!

We would like to thank all of the volunteers
who make our mission possible. THANK YOU!

Tuesday
Tuesday night was busy! Therapy dog Rupert stopped by,
the boys played Wii and creations were made during craft time.









Wednesday
The RMH just got the movie Tangled, so the kids had to check it out in the movie theater.
Thursday
With this nice Minnesota Spring weather we've been having, more and more people are signing up for the Target trips! The RMH provides a van to Target every Monday and Thursday from 6:30-8:00pm.
Friday
Look at this cool chair the kids made! It will be auctioned off for Breanna's Gift.. the program that provides dance and art at the house on Friday afternoons.

Meet our staff-
Each week one of the staff members is highlighted...
Meet Persis, the Director of Family Services at the RMH - Oak Street! Persis loves working at the RMH. She used to volunteer at the House in Philadelphia. When she and her husband Tod moved to Minneapolis, they planned to stay for two years while Tod Studied architecture. Persis started working at the RMH in Minneapolis as the house manager. Plans to move back to Boston changed and they love Minnesota!
Persis lives with Tod, her two daughters, two dogs and two cats! She loves to knit and create things.. except food. She loves to eat but not to cook. Persis also loves to take pictures. She thinks capturing people smiling, and doing things they enjoy is fun.
When Persis' daughters were little, her family went on canoe trips to the Boundary Waters in northern MN. One of her girls decided she hates bugs... they are hoping she changes her mind. If she doesn't Persis would love to go back with just Tod. She thinks it is the most beautiful place on earth.
Persis loves meeting all the kids and parents who stay at the RMH. You can find her in the back corner of the Program Office. Come by and say hi!

Jerry's friend of the week....

Jeremy loves Jerry. Each day Jeremy was in the hospital, he could not wait to get back to the house to visit Jerry. Jerry is glad you are back at the house Jeremy!

Around the House....
We have a celebrity in the house! Jocelyn is the little girl who is on the U of MN Amplatz shuttle that comes to the RMH every day. She tells everyone that it is HER bus. If you ever need a ride to the hospital, the shuttle stops at the doors by the program office every 20 minutes from 7:00 am to 2:00 pm. After 2:00 pm, it comes if you call the number by the phone located by the front doors of house one. Make sure to sneak a peek at Jocelyn!

News from the School....
Great news in the RMH school this week! Erika, an 8th grader, has been working very hard on her reading and English skills. This week she got 100% on her Wordly Wise test! Way to go Erika!
Things to look forward to......
Every Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 pm is cooking! Come to the HOUSE TWO kitchen to make yummy treats every week!

Be sure to check out the RMH DVD selection, located in the program office! It is always stocked wit the most recent movie releases, and our volunteers work very hard to keep it organized.

Our Volunteer Meal Program: Cooks for Kids!

Here at the Ronald McDonald House inside the Hospital we are so excited it’s finally April…WHY? Because it’s the first month we have one of our incredible Cooks for Kids dinners EVERY night ALL month long! From spaghetti to tacos to soups and stews our families are thrilled to be enjoying delicious meals prepared by energetic and amazing volunteers! So far our groups have been playing music, decorating the tables, engaging with our families and truly enhancing their experiences. We can’t begin to express what it means to us and how much we are looking forward to many more dinners!

To learn more about Cooks for Kids - our most popular volunteer program, visit: www.rmhc-um.org and click "How You Can Help."

Sleepover!

Fifteen incredibly beautiful overnight rooms opened at the Ronald McDonald House inside Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis on February 7th, 2011. The opening of the bedrooms rounded out the 8,500 square foot House which opened November 1st, 2010. The House Inside the Hospital (HIH) also includes two living rooms, a stocked pantry, kitchen, exercise area, computer lab and an outdoor patio just steps away from the inpatient units. As the 5th House inside the hospital in the country, we are honored to provide a respite from the hospital environment, a sense of community, a good night's sleep, home-cooked meals and hot showers to our 400+ registered families who average 130 visits a day. Days at the HIH consist of families playing board games, cooking meals, relaxing in front of the fireplace, running on the treadmill and visiting with their loved ones. In a word, it’s just like “home.”

Volunteers Close To Our Hearts!

Nothing beats our volunteers, but a recent Cooks for Kids Group was especially close to my heart. 'UWL + the boys' is a group of friends mostly comprised of alumni from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, which is also my alma mater! Five of the group's members are also weekly Housewarmer volunteers and almost all of the group has donated their time at other important RMHC-UM events like Fam Glam, the Golf Classic and Parents' Night In. Their 'build your own sub' picnic theme was a hit with all of the familes, especially their 'sand & dirt' dessert cups. This group shows so much heart and dedication; we can't thank them enough for their efforts.

Through the window - Snow

Through my window today I see snowflakes falling, adding to the piles already here. To me, it looks like shoveling and long commutes, but to the family I just met from Texas, it is a once in a lifetime experience. Seeing them gazing happily out the windows made me stop and appreciate the snow, just for a moment. It's experiences like this that make me appreciate working right inside the RMH-Oak Street and to be part of an organization that provides a haven for families from across the country. I know it will still be a bit of a pain for me, but as I shovel tonight after work, I'll think about that family and the fun they saw out the window.

We Support Families

Even though we reach thousands of families each year, we never take our focus off each one and their unique story.