For a family with a seriously ill child, a long day at the hospital can be exhausting and a delicious meal can be quite the pick-me-up. Our families are far from home and having to eat out three meals a day for weeks be financially draining, not to mention the comfort of a home cooked meal. Our goal is to provide families with at least one meal a day at the Ronald McDonald House and we depend on volunteer groups to prepare and organize made meals for our families. Our Adopt-a-Meal volunteer groups are families, churches, school groups, or community organizations, many of whom have been coming for years!
Here is some general information about our Adopt-A-Meal program that may help you decide if this is the volunteer opportunity for you:
- For the health and well-being of our families ALL food must be prepared in our kitchen or in a commercial kitchen. Any store bought items should be in unopened containers and all produce should be brought in whole.
- For dinners, we ask that groups prepare to feed 60-70 people and for brunches 30-40 people. These are strictly estimates as we our families are on various schedules. Please know that whether eaten during the meal or cooked for leftovers, our families appreciate the meal and food rarely goes to waste.
- We cannot estimate the number of children that will be in the House or their sex/ages. Our families check in/out every day and for the most part the children are in-patient. We sometimes have siblings or out-patient children, but we will not know that ahead of time.
- Our kitchens are fully equipped with cooking utensils, pots and pans, etc. The main kitchen also has four ovens/stoves, four sink areas, and two microwaves that you can use to prepare your meal.
- You may use food you purchase or you may use whatever nonperishable items we have available in our pantry.
- We ask that groups limit themselves to no more than 10 people (this does include adult chaperones if there are youth with the group).
- Groups can sign-up to prepare dinner at 6pm any evening or brunch on Saturday and Sunday at 10 am.
- Our calendars do fill up quickly; please call our Administrative Assistant for a current listing of available dates.
Here is some information that may help you for planning your meal:
Adopt-A-Meal Complete Guidelines
Cooking for Crowds for Dummies – How much to cook for large groups.
For more information or to schedule a date please contact our Administrative Assistant.
