SYL: Ronald McDonald House & Make Family Time Happy Time
As parents there are, God forbid, times when our children are sick and need more attention than what they can get at home. Sometimes children have to be hospitalized, and when they do, Ronald McDonald House is a great resource and support for families going through an illness with a child, especially when it comes to finding a place to stay so far away from home. My nephew Trey stays at a Ronald McDonald House in Manhattan every time he goes back for scans. I know it’s been a wonderful way for their family to connect with other parents and families going through similar things and to participate in different projects and events with the kids, just to help get their minds off of the illness, even if just for a little bit.
Ronald McDonald House Charities are one way that you can shine your light to other families who just need all of the encouragement and support that they can get, particularly when going through a dark valley in their lives, such as a diagnosis of neuroblastoma or leukemia. There are ways to volunteer at your local Ronald McDonald House or even donate.
McDonald’s sent me the following information on a way that you and your family can help, as well….
Right now McDonald’s U.S. restaurants are donating proceeds from Happy Meal and Mighty Kids Meal sales to Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC). This ongoing donation will help benefit more than 11,000 sick and critically ill children and their families each day. As part of the fundraiser, McDonald’s has brought the new RMHC fundraiser to life online through a sharable “Make Family Time Happy Time” online application, where families are encouraged to pledge minutes of “happy time” together and share their own creative activities with other families via McDonald’s Facebook page or their personal blogs. Here’s how to get involved:
- Visit McDonald’s Facebook page to download the application and participate in the campaign.
- You can select from an existing family time activity provided on the application, or you can submit your own tip and pledge to help RMHC.
- McDonald’s will donate one penny to RMHC for each minute pledged, with a goal of reaching 1 million minutes and $10,000 to use towards family time activities for RMHC guests.
This is a fun, interactive way to get involved, especially if you have young children….I know that it’s not as easy to actually volunteer somewhere when you have littles, but that’s ok. There are plenty of other ways that you can help and encourage others. One more way that you can help, is to vote for RMHC on their Members Project. This could help them to win $200,000 towards helping even more families who are in need. You can follow RMHC on Facebook and @RMHC on Twitter.
Don’t forget to shine your light!
(Note: I am working towards making Shine Your Light focused more heavily on the fight against human trafficking. If you know of organizations or links that might be helpful, I would love to know about them. Thanks for reading!)








































