The Ronald McDonald House holds a very special place in my heart for reasons I hope you all will never have to find out. They had a special area at CHOP where you could go to get away from the hospital room, to make you feel like you were somewhat “home”. You could sit on an actual couch and watch some TV, you could do a little laundry. Local restaurants provided free food for families. Not many realize that when you have a child in the hospital for extended amounts of time, like the children in the oncology ward, you don’t have a kitchen. I saw children that were born there and haven’t gone home yet and they were 3 years old. You have to literally eat every meal out. As a parent you don’t leave your child. It’s very expensive to eat 3 meals a day from restaurants. The Ronald McDonald House also provides family housing for those seeking medical treatments that are far from home. There are families that travel not only from out of state, but from countries all over the world. They provide apartments and rooms for those families to offset the cost of travel, hotel bills and food.
I know you have all gone through the drive thru and have seen the little change bin under the window. Next time make a donation even if it’s just a few pennies. There are so many families in need. It is the worst thing in the world to have a sick child. To ease the financial burden of those families is one less thing they worry about.
Thank you to the Stafford Township School District for this fundraiser. You really don’t know how much a few pennies from each of you will help so many families. This community is so wonderful - we are proud and humbled every day to be a part of it. Thank you from Parker’s Army.
