Volunteers Make Holidays Sweet!

Check out the special Easter and spring-themed treats two special volunteers cooked up for the families at the Ronald McDonald House - Chicago Ave (inside Children's Hospitals & Clinics of Minnesota). We celebrate holidays big and small to bring levity to the children and families our programs support. If you're interested in sharing your creative culinary talent with families when they need it most, contact Carynn Roehrick to learn how to help.

The Lucky Month of March

As the month of March came to an end, the wall inside the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare was completely filled with "lucky shamrocks." In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we decided to have families write down what they feel lucky for on shamrocks surrounding the rainbow. We got many responses such as: family, life, love, kids, pets and many patients’ names currently receiving care at Gillette. Thank you to all of the families that participated in this activity. WE are lucky to have each and every one of you at the Ronald McDonald Family Room.

Holidays Are Special Here!

We love when volunteers go above and beyond to make holidays big and small special for the families we support. Check out the St. Patrick's Day celebration at the Ronald McDonald Family Room thanks to volunteers from Ryerson.

"Ryerson has served four Cooks for Kids meals since we opened last July and they are always creative with their themes and meals," said Kara Miller, Director of the Ronald McDonald Family Room. "Their recent St. Patty’s theme had all sorts of yummy green treats - even green butter! Ryerson's generosity and creativity makes the hospital experience just a little bit easier for families."

The Little Things Matter Most

Many of you are familiar with our volunteer meal program, Cooks For Kids, in which volunteers cook meals for the families inside the Ronald McDonald House, the House inside the hospital and the Ronald McDonald Family Room. Everyone is so grateful for the volunteers taking time out of their busy days to cook, serve and clean up. At the Ronald McDonald Family Room inside Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, we recently had a group of high school students who are a part of the National Honor Society at Harding High School in St. Paul. They did such a wonderful job preparing a delicious, Asian-themed meal. One thing in particular that really caught everyone’s attention was the coconut Jell-O. The volunteers made several different colors of Jell-O using food dye and then made art out of the Jell-O! Families we so appreciative! One parent commented, “It really is the small things like pretty Jell-O that brings a smile to my face these days." Thank you, National Honor Society, at Harding High School for serving families. It seems like something so small, but we know it's the little things that really matter!

Thank You, Minnesota Wild Foundation!

Thank you to the Minnesota Wild Foundation and to the fans in the state of hockey! From February 14 to March 4, the Minnesota Wild and Xcel Energy Center hosted a 50/50 raffle to benefit RMHC-UM. $13,717 in prize money went to five lucky participants and more than $14,000 was raised for RMHC-UM! Plus, over 18,000 fans at 5 games got to know us a little better.

We were honored to be the beneficiary for the raffle at 5 games.

Thank you to the great volunteers who have come out to help us sell tickets.

We've enjoyed attending the games and working with the Minnesota Wild Foundation to ensure care was taken each night as winners were selected from thousands of participants. We're especially proud of the five wonderful volunteer groups who have stepped up to support us and work as cheerleaders pitching the sale of tickets in support of RMHC-UM. They've given up parts of their weekend and even braved the weather to be there and we are grateful.

The following photos chronicle the raffle at the February 28th game. We were sad to see the Wild lose, but happy to see a winner walk away with $2,000 and to bring back $2,000 to support families.

Giving the tickets a good spin for luck and safety.

Carynn Roehrick, Director of Volunteers, is eager to pull the winning ticket.

A sea of tickets and support for RMHC-UM!

Reaching in and selecting the winning ticket.

Another set of great volunteers proudly display the winning ticket!

Oscars Party at the Ronald McDonald Family Room®

It is estimated 39.3 million people watched the Academy Awards last Sunday and that number includes the patients and families at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare who attended our Oscars party! We celebrated with caramel corn, miniature Oscars and families filled out ballots to guess winners per category. We all had a blast gushing over the gorgeous dresses and beautiful people, but the most exciting part of the night was guessing the winners. When the ballots were totaled, the family with the most correct guesses was the Glime family! With 10 correct guesses out of 24 possible categories, Melissa Glime claimed her prize of 4 Minnesota Zoo passes and a miniature Oscar! Congrats, Melissa, you sure know your movies!

Every Pop Tab Counts!

Last week at the Ronald McDonald Family Room inside Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, I was very excited to see a patient named Gavin bring in a large bag. I asked Gavin what was inside the bag and he said “A ton of pop tabs!” In fact, it was a 12lb bag of pop tabs he had been saving for us. Gavin had his friends and family save all of their pop tabs over the last few months. He was so excited to donate them and I was equally excited to accept them! Thank you to everyone who collects pop tabs, and just as Gavin told me, every pop tab counts and makes a difference.