Volunteers Are The Key To Ronald’s House
By Jerri Chong, President, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Hawaii
It has been more than 27 years since Hawaii’s Ronald McDonald House opened its doors in lower Manoa Valley. Since then, some 10,600 families with a seriously ill child, mainly from the Neighbor Islands, have called the House their “home away from home.”
We have been able to provide these families with a total of 108,000 nights of lodging — and along with that, other vital services desperately needed by families who are temporarily displaced from home by their child’s need for urgent medical care.
Clearly, none of this could have been possible without the enthusiastic support of our community, through volunteer services, in-kind donations of goods and services, and responding to our fundraising initiatives.
Volunteerism is at the very heart of what we do. From the volunteer nature of our board and committees to just about every other facet of charity operations, volunteer service is one of the core assets of Ronald McDonald House. Scores of volunteers donate thousands of hours of their time and energy each year. This saves us substantial amounts of money, and provides significant additional resources that can be used more effectively to help families.
Interested? There are many ways you can serve as a volunteer, like cooking, cleaning or gardening. For a complete list of volunteer opportunities, fill out a volunteer application at RonaldHouseHawaii.org.
Monetary support also is gratefully accepted.
From dropping your spare change in our donation boxes at any McDonald’s restaurant in Hawaii; taking part in our annual fundraisers, such as our Golf Classic in July and our “Share-A-Night” gala in November; or just making a donation on our website, your financial support of any size means so much as we take care of these vulnerable families.
We are truly blessed with the love, aloha and support from friends, neighbors and businesses that have kept our two houses open all these years. So many people’s sufferings have been lessened.
So many children have been able to resume normal lives. So many families have been touched by the compassionate support of our generous island community.
Yes, lucky we live Hawaii.
Hawaii charitable organizations may send requests for space in either Proof Positive or the free advertisement below to dchapman@midweek.com.
