Ronald McDonald House New York would like to say a special thank you to all of our Step Challenge participants and supporters who stepped up to support children battling cancer by raising awareness and funds this month.

Each of you are true heroes of our House! With over 150 participants and supporters, together we made over 25 million steps, and raised over $28,000 in support of children battling cancer and their families.

Fun and Games with Sard Verbinnen

Sard Verbinnen provided dinner and a virtual activity. Their volunteer team put together an entertaining fast-paced guessing game. There was no question that the winner of the evening’s activity was Zooey! She responded correctly to the questions within the 5-second limit, and then provided the next well thought out category.

Which in a few cases turned out to be harder than expected for Team Sard Verbinnen. In between playing the game Zooey shared her love of cats and her interest in snakes which she has been researching. She provided a wealth of information on North American Reptiles for the group. Everyone enjoyed Zooey’s wit and humor throughout the Evening.

Submitted by Helena Russo

Virtual Dinner Party with T. Rowe Price

It was a fun evening at the House! After a few tech glitches and the setup seconds, the zoom virtual room was ready with dim lights and serious music to begin the most important Game show - The Disney quiz. The volunteer crew Ally, Donna, Christina, Alex and James had their questions deck ready and to go and were co-hosting the show. James was the DJ for the night and also the score-bearer.

The fun teams: Soccer, The Locos and The Sea Hawks were all geared to play. Ally went through the rules. It was simple; the hosts would pop a question with 4 multiple choices. 45 seconds were given to our teams to come up with an answer. Tik tok tik tok... then the participants would drop their answers to the chatbox or hold the letter board to the camera and bamm you get your scores.

The kids were all logged in and ready to take it on. The questions were tastefuly crafted to cater to every kid's favorite Disney character. It ranged from Alladin, Moana, Incredibles, Madagascar and the recent blockbuster Mulan. As questions passed, the tension was felt in the zoom room. Thanks to James for the hippity hop music which got everyone swaying as they scratched their heads to pick the right choice.

As we just stepped into the October fest month, the Disney characters provoked the inevitable chatter about Halloween costumes . There were some really good choices to pick from - Olaf, Cheerleader & Spiderman. I hope you are wondering what your costume is going to be as you read this.

As we moved along with questions about Toy Story, Kung Fu Panda and Moana every team scored a point. Hooray!! We knew what the House favorite characters were.

And then the scores started to get close. So Ally brought her wrath of tough questions. Some of these really got me wondering if I wanted to spend all weekend refreshing my Disney knowledge. Some key take aways were do not miss Mulan. Especially as starting this week, Disney + is streaming Mulan as part of the subscription and no additional fees. Marianna gave a great reviews for the movie and strongly urged having popcorn , hot chocolate and M&M as sides.

And then Ally surprised the teams with a bonus question only because the question got really tough. To keep the fun index high, every team scored a bonus point for that, no matter their answers. 20 questions down and there could be just one winner. Tension spiraling in the room. All teams were so close to the screen and calling their hoping to win. Then the winner was announced. It was Mariana!!! But wait this is the House where the world is twisted. So it was declared -- everyone was a winner. Kids danced around with joy. All in all it was an exciting event not just for the kids but for everyone in the Virtual room.

If you missed the event take this quiz to test your Disney knowledge :)

1. In Alladin , what was Jasmine's pet called?
2. What are the minion's names in Despicable me?
3. In Toy Story who does the toys belong to?
4. What type of fish is Nemo?
5. What is the panda's name in Kung Fu Panda?
6. Name any one of the 7 dwarfs?
7. What zoo are the animals in Madagascar from?
8. In Ratatoulie what name does Linguini give Remy?
9. The movie Cars begins with the last race of which championship race?
10. In the Wizard of Oz, what is the Tin man looking for?
11. What fraternity did Mike and Sully belong to?
12. Which Disney princess has a raccoon as a side kick?
13. Who teaches Mowgli about the bare necessities in life in The Jungle Book?
14. What is the name of the dragon in the Mulan movie?
15. What does Ohana mean?
16. In the Little Mermaid movie what is a dinglehopper?
17. In the movie Moana, what is the green stone on Moana's necklace?
18. In the Incredibles 2 the incredibles and frozone battle with?
19. Who does Anna fall in love with in frozen?

Answers :

1. Raja
2. Dave, Carl, Kevin, Steve
3. Andy
4. Clownfish
5. Po
6. Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grump, Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy
7. Central Park zoo
8. Little Chef
9. Piston Cup
10. The heart
11. Oozma Kappa
12. Pocohantas
13. Baloo
14. Mushu
15. Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind
16. The fork.
17. Heart of the Te Fitit
18. The Underminer
19. Kristoff

Submitted by Sneha Ramesh, Communications Volunteer

Setting Healthy Intentions for the Next 90 Days

Can you believe that there are only 90 days left of 2020?! While 2020 may not have gone exactly how we may have envisioned on January 1st, we can still take advantage of the remaining 90 days to set healthy intentions and implement positive lifestyle changes.

There is a saying that it takes 21 days to form a habit and 90 days to make a lifestyle change. From now until 2021 arrives, I challenge you to pick one healthy lifestyle change that you want to implement by the end of 2020. This can be as simple as committing to a 30 minute walk everyday or eating a serving of vegetables in every meal.

For the first 30 days, practice adding in the habit a few times a week in smaller increments so that you get used to the new movement/food/etc. For example, if my ultimate goal is to walk 30 minutes everyday, I will start the first 30 days by walking for 15 minutes on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays.

For the next 30 days, commit to your habit everyday but at the same smaller increment. For example, I will now be walking everyday for 15 minutes a day. By increasing the number of days per week but keeping the increment constant, adding in the extra days won’t be as difficult and will begin to feel more like an automatic daily routine.

For the last 30 days, perform your habit everyday at the full increment. In my scenario, I will be walking everyday for 30 minutes. During these last 30 days, take note of the obstacles that you may face while attempting to perform the habit and what you can do to adapt. If your goal is to walk, how do you complete your daily walk during inclement weather? If your goal is to eat a serving of vegetables in every meal, what happens if you have to work late and can’t cook a proper dinner?

By the end of the 90 days, we will have slowly but steadily worked to implement a positive lifestyle change that we can carry into the new year!

Submitted by Kelly Chu, Communications Volunteer

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Thank you to our Communications Volunteers for their support in collecting content for our Newsletter!