Volunteer Newsletter: From Our House to Yours| Issue XVII
Hello Volunteers
Ronald McDonald House New York is sending you warm wishes this holiday season. It has been an unprecedented year but thanks to your continued support our doors have remained open. Wishing you healthy and happy holidays!
The Holidays are always a special time at the House. To keep up everyone’s spirits, we have put together a calendar full of fun events hosted by staff and volunteer groups, for the families to enjoy this holiday season: 25 Days of Cheer! To kick it off, our staff at the House hosted a Holiday House Lighting where we virtually walked families around the House to see all the magical decorations lighting up the House! Check out a short recap below
Here are some highlights from our Family Photoshoots with our new decorations!
Volunteer, Stevie Cogan celebrated her birthday last weekend, and her family surprised her by sponsoring the families dinners on her birthday night. What a wonderful way to celebrate her birthday! We also were lucky enough to have two meals sponsored by volunteers, Caroline Loevner and Beau our furry friend from the Pet Therapy Program, who made sure the families were well fed for breakfast and dinner but was also so kind enough to feed the staff that day too! Thank you to you both!
Andrea Tashjian
Team: Greeter
Profession: Advertising
How Andrea became involved at the House: Getting involved with the House has been a Family affair. My Sister began volunteering at the original location on East 86th Street, then moved to our current location. When my Parents moved from LI to the city, my Mom, Louise began volunteering as one of the three original Coffee and Cookie Ladies. She did so for over 25 years and is a Hope Award recipient. Over the course of these years I would accompany Mom on Tuesday afternoons. She stopped when my Parents moved from the city, at which point, I was approached to join. I thought I'd be taking over her role but was assigned on as the first greeter.
Years Volunteering at House: I've been Volunteering since the Greeters position was formed in April 2018.
Favorite Events or Activity: The volunteer teams provide so many activities for the children and watching them engage and seeing their smiles light up their faces is definitely a highlight!
Volunteer Goal: My goal is to provide as much help and happiness to the children and their families, and to continue delivering books which benefit our Giving Library, which was started by a co-volunteer. Through my partnership with local bookstores, the House receives generous donations which keeps the library fully stocked.
Highlight of Volunteering at RMH-NY: I enjoy the fact that Everyone comes together as one Family when at the House. It truly is a Home away from Home.
What do you miss most about not Visiting the house since quarantine began: While I've missed visiting these months, due to quarantine, I feel most sorry for the children. I look forward to the day when it's safe for all volunteers to be back sharing their love.
“Everyone knows the fine reputation The Ronald McDonald House has, and I am honored to be one of the many volunteers doing my part to help.”- Andrea
Article submitted by Helena Russo, Communications Volunteer.
Turkey Trivia with Marsh
Corporate sponsor, Marsh & McLennan not only provided a Thanksgiving themed dinner for the House, but they also hosted a special virtual “Turkey Trivia” night filled with laughs and friendly competition.
The volunteer group sent residents of the House Thanksgiving DIY wreaths, holiday themed Zoom backgrounds for the families to upload when joining the virtual event and a playlist for everyone to get into spirit.
One resident, Alyssa, and her mother joined the event and gave the group a behind the scenes peek into how her day was going and her future goals of getting her degree to become a Child Life Specialist.
After some crafting and chatting, the volunteer’s arranged a “Turkey Trivia” and an Autumn-themed quiz where Alyssa and M&M volunteer, Bob battled for the championship. Alyssa, beating Bob in both events, took the prize!
Submitted by: Alyssa Ahern
Thanksgiving Day at the House
This thanksgiving we decided to make the families day extra special. We provided Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, all from a specially curated Menu so they could feel more at home. We gave them gift bags with thanksgiving themed plates, utensils, place mats and décor for the tv trays we provided.
Cookie Decorating with Deutsche Bank
The Deutsche Bank team from the Chief Operating Office hosted a virtual dinner party for our families. They leveraged their DB Meals for the Heart fundraiser which has provide a total of 13 meals since the launch of the fundraiser in September, raising over $7,000 so far! We had a great turnout, all the kids were given a package with 5 delicious varied shaped cookies. It also contained a set of decorative knick knacks like colorful icing cones, sprinkles, chocolate chips, eyeballs, bananas and raisins.
The challenge was to eat them only after decorating them. The kids were given a dry run to sharpen their icing skills on a paper plate. The holiday theme was embedded in the cookies as some of them were shaped like a pumpkin. The superstar kids and the volunteers took a spin at their cookies. The kids put on their thinking hats on and created vivid kinds of decorations like spider icing, chocolate maze, a lovely heart etc. While it was hard to resist not to eat the cookies as they made them, many of them gave in to their sweet tooth. As it continued, there were chatters about everyone's thanksgiving tradition like watching football or the parade together or enjoying a sumptuous meal with their family and friends. Towards the end of the event our professional bakers of the Ronald McDonald House New York (kids and the volunteers) lined up their work and cheered on the thanksgiving wishes.
Submitted By: Sneha Ramesh
SOCIAL MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
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Thank you to our Communications Volunteers for their support in collecting content for our Newsletter!