How to help RMHC - The Domestic Geek Blog

As a Ronald McDonald House Charity ambassador and a parent who stayed at a Ronald McDonald House Charity, I’m a little bit passionate about this charity. If you follow me on any form of social media you probably saw me promote the Give A Hand promotion last week. We still have a couple days to donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charity at McDonald’s! Go buy some fries and donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charity, how can you say no to fries?

Here’s a few pictures from when we went to buy a hand for the charity.

This promotion is fantastic, I love it and the awareness it brings to the charity. However, there are 355 other days in the year where you could be helping out the charity even more. A lot of these things you could be doing for the Ronald McDonald House Charity are so easy, but they have such a great impact on the charity!In case you didn’t know exactly what it is that the Ronald McDonald House Charity does I’ll give you a quick explanation. It all started with Ronald McDonald Houses, homes where families can stay when they have a child in the hospital. It’s a home away from home, a place where families can find comfort.

The charity has expanded a lot beyond just houses. They now offer family rooms right inside hospitals for families to have comfort without being too far from their little ones. Care mobiles are a newer addition, these are just like mini doctor’s offices on wheels providing health care to children in need. They also have grants, reading programs, and scholarships.

How to help the Ronald McDonald House Charity, such easy ways to make a huge impact.

All chapters are different, so you might want to check with your local chapter for their current needs. They might even have a wishlist on their website! Use the RMHC chapter search, to find a chapter near you!

Donate Change with Coinstar

I’m sure you’ve seen Coinstar machines in your favorite stores. Did you know you can donate your change to the Ronald McDonald House Charity using these machines? It’s so simple and every penny helps to make a difference.Please note: Coinstar kiosks at Walmart, Safeway, Meijer and casino locations do not participate in the program.

This is one of my favorite ways to help out, donating toys! I’ve started this super fun habit of heading to the toy section of Target every time we’re there running errands. I pick out a Hot Wheels for under $1 and it gets stashed away for my next Ronald McDonald House visit. Trust me, when it comes to Target, I don’t notice that dollar being spent. The photo above is part of the haul of toys I brought with me last time I visited.

What happens to my toys when they get to the house? They might go to a super fun toy room, every child who stays at the Ronald McDonald House gets to take home a super fun toy. You can see photos of one of these toy rooms in this post. A smaller toy like Hot Wheels might be left in the lobby for children to pick up after they’ve had a rough day at the hospital.

Host a Family Meal

Do you love to entertain? What could be better than cooking or a house full of grateful families? Volunteer to make a home cooked meal for the families staying at the house. If you love to cook and often daydream about fabulous kitchens this one is for you, the kitchens at all 4 houses I’ve been to are definitely day dream worthy.

I’m hoping to volunteer for this when the weather gets nice again, because I’m pretty sure there’s nothing better than a good ol’ Wisconsin cookout. Nothing says Wisconsin like brats, burgers, and cheesy potatoes!

Hospitality Bags

Putting together hospitality bags is a great idea, an idea I fell in love with when we made welcome bags for the Hyde Park Ronald McDonald House near Chicago this past September. Whether your hospitality bags include items to keep minds busy, or toiletries they would be so greatly appreciated.

Some ideas of items to include would be; playing cards, activity books, notebooks, pens, gum, or small toiletries such as shampoo or travel sized deodorants.

Donate your Change

I’m sure you’ve seen donation boxes at your local McDonald’s. Pitch in your extra change next time you grab a McChicken.

Long line at the drive thru? Take it as an opportunity to clean out your cup holders and give that loose change to the Ronald McDonald House Charity, it’ll do much more good than it would sitting in your cup holder for months!

I know that not all Ronald McDonald House Charity Chapters accept soda tabs, all of the chapters here do and they’ve found a great deal of success with their tab collections! I even have a cute house to put mine in.

Do you have a lot of soda drinkers in your office? You could easily put a coffee can and a sign above the recycling with a friendly reminder to save those tabs for the local Ronald McDonald House Charity!

Volunteer

Do you have a lot of time on your hands? Love busy work or interacting with others? You should look into volunteering at your local chapter! Volunteers can help with office work and light housekeeping. I’ve met so many wonderful people volunteering their time at Ronald McDonald Houses, that could be you!

Make sure to visit RMHC.org a pretty impressive website with so much information and many great stories.

I really hope you’ve found a way that you would love to pitch in to my favorite cause! In what way would you love to help out?

Brittany

Written by, Brittany, the geek behind the blog. I share lots of recipes, my thoughts on the latest tech gadgets, my favorite geeky games, and snippets of life as a Work-at-home mom.