Just like home
It’s hard to be away from home any time of the year, but holidays go with home and family like turkey goes with stuffing and cranberry sauce. That’s why the holidays can be especially difficult for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House, families who live at least 40 miles out of town and have a child in one of the hospitals.
For $24 a night families have a home-away-from-home at the house, with private rooms, laundry and kitchen facilities, computer access and help with many other details of daily living that fall to the wayside when a child is in the hospital.
The staff and volunteers at the house strive to create comfort and support for families year-round – more than 1,000 in 2007 – but they make a special effort to provide comfort and cheer during the holidays.
“That is why we are here, to give them that support,” said Kathie Vlahovich, Operations Director for the Ronald McDonald House in Spokane. “They are in such crisis.”
To do this they rely on volunteers. Volunteers help coordinate a Christmas luncheon and pampering afternoon for the moms, said volunteer coordinator Debbie Fucile.
The moms, who don’t usually have the time or energy to get a haircut or their nails done while a child is in the hospital, have an afternoon of mini services, from makeup, nails and hair trims to mini massages and goodie bags filled with donated gifts.
Volunteers also help prepare and serve traditional holiday meals at Christmas and Thanksgiving, often sacrificing their own time at home to do so.
El Wilson, who cooks a meal once a month for families at Ronald McDonald House and has cooked Thanksgiving dinner there for 16 years, didn’t take this year off. Instead she brought her mom with her to make the holiday feast from groceries donated by students at Moran Prairie Elementary.
“What is better than a home-cooked meal, especially on a holiday?” said Vlahovich, noting that families always comment on the time, love and care Wilson puts into the meal, which is served on china. “It is kind of magical how it works. (Wilson) truly comes here and transforms this house into a home while she is preparing this meal.”
From the yam and apple dish to the green bean casserole and stuffing, it was all delicious, said Grace Dean, whose son Jonathan, born Nov. 15, was at Deaconess receiving care for a rare birth defect called CHARGE Syndrome.
Staying at the Ronald McDonald House gave her peace of mind in a difficult time, said Dean. She could focus on her son without worrying about where she would stay or what she would eat.
And her family, like her sister and her dad, could join her there, celebrating not just holidays, but medical milestones and the smallest things that most parents take for granted, like changing a diaper.
Wilson says her best memories are of the holiday meals where grandparents and other relatives share the holiday with their loved ones who are staying in the house.
“It is very special for the grandparents because they get to participate in a holiday they thought they were going to miss,” she said. “And (they) get to see their kids do the same.”