Our Ronald McDonald House and Family Rooms would not be the same without our volunteers. That might be an understatement. The time, effort, and love that our volunteers give back to RMHCK is absolutely vital to achieving our mission of providing a “home away from home” for families of children receiving healthcare at area medical facilities. We are so grateful to have such a large group of dedicated and caring folks that we get to call a part of the RMHCK family.
Without our volunteers, laundry would go unwashed, rooms unchecked, meals unprepared, dead lightbulbs unchanged, floors unswept. This is why each spring we celebrate our volunteers at the RMHCK Volunteer Recognition & Appreciation Luncheon, which we held April 26th at Audubon Country Club.
It was a lovely spring day to hold an event for a lovely group of people. Volunteers look forward to the Luncheon each year as a time when they can reflect on their accomplishments from the previous year – like over 13,000 hours of service and 376 meals served to help the 1,000+ families that stayed at our House in 2014 – and on the meaning of their service to RMHCK.
At each Volunteer Luncheo, we take the time to recognize shift volunteers who are hitting particular milestones. This year we had the pleasure of honoring:
25 Years
- Peg Irvin
- Dottie Nix
20 Years
- Mary Ann Fuller
15 Years
- Pam Krause
10 Years
- Angie Jones
- Eva Kapfhammer
5 Years
- Harriet Hicks
- Bill Pofahl
- Melissa Sanders
- Nicholas Sanders
- Fran Smith
- David Stermer
- Nancy Steverson
- Dee Storey
- Genie Yockey
- Doug Habeeb
- Glenn Thienel
In the short time since I started at RMH (coming up on seven months!), I’ve been lucky to get to know most of the wonderful people that we get to call our volunteers. They’ve shown me the myriad details that are necessary to keeping the House running, and I’ve seen first-hand how crucial they are to making our House a home away from home.
When I was first starting, I knew it was my job along with the Volunteer Committee to plan the Volunteer Luncheon, and I heard from the start about what a lovely event it always was (and about the fried chicken Audubon serves). I didn’t know exactly what to expect from the event, but now it’s clear how important the Luncheon is, to our volunteers, staff, board, and anyone associated with the House. It’s one of the biggest ways that we can recognize the group who keeps our House feeling like home – our volunteers.
~Eric
