Ronald Mcdonald House

So as you may or may not know, I am involved in a "tiny" little fundraiser for the Ronald Mcdonald House, and the time of year has again come upon us. So I have made a couple million phone calls begging for silent auction items, spent a couple dozen hours in meetings and finally dedicated an entire Saturday to the cause. And, it must be said it was a huge success. We had $220,000 made before the silent or live auctions, there were 780 items in the silent auction....we came home with a fishing pole for Nate and a golf club for Greg.....and 16 live auction items including a golden retreiver puppy that went for somewhere around $3000.
I spent all day Saturday setting things up and getting ready for the big event. I spent most of the evening with Mark Kolbel and Shauna Lake from channel 2 news. They are so very nice, I was the time nazi and kept things on schedule for the evening. My sweet husband spent the majority of the night chatting with my brother. I am so glad they are good friends. I am hoping we raised a chunk of change to help the families that have to stay at our houses this year. They are a special group who need RMDH so badly and I am so happy to be able to them. I hope that none of you, my dear friends and family, ever have to know the heartbreak of having a child in the hospital. I have take that path once in my life and with God's good graces I will never have to venture there again. I am involved with this charity, because I am the fortunate one....my son is growing up to be a strong and wonderful little boy. I did not have to go bankrupt from the $100,000 in medical bills we accrued, and I was able to come home to my own bed every night because we were a reasonablae distance from the hospital. I ask that if you do not have a charity you donate to regularly please consider the Ronald Mcdonald House in your area. They always need help, be it money or your time. My second favorite charity to give to is March of Dimes. I have had the premature baby, and if they had not done so much work and helped to create and test the drug given to Nathan for his lungs, I am not even going to consider the outcome. But because of my NICU experience, I met moms and dads who were not close to home and who were not able to be there everyday, like I was. And who's babies stayed a whole lot longer than the 21 days Nate did. They need places like Ronald Mcdonald House and I am happy to save a parent in that postion any stress I can.

http://www.marchofdimes.com

http://www.rmhc.com