Last night, the homeschooling group Mary participates in and I teach spent the night preparing a meal for the families at the Ronald McDonald House (RMD) here in Lexington. As I stated in an earlier post, our family has used the Cleveland and Cincinnati RMD in the past as we have sought treatment for our youngest daughter. We have been very blessed by both of these organizations. One of the things all RMDs offer is free meals to families that are usually prepared by volunteer organizations. This helps the families cut down their costs which can be overwhelming in the stress of serious illness of a child. The meals are served in a group kitchen and families are encouraged to sit together while they eat.
I would encourage any group looking for a way to help in the community to seriously consider preparing a meal. The procedure is fairly simple. Here is what we did. I looked on the local RMD website here. I found the phone number and e-mail of volunteer coordinator and then contacted her. We scheduled a date that did not already have someone serving that evening and was open for us. She then sent us a confirmation e-mail with some menu suggestions. The students then planned what we were going to make. Next, I e-mailed all the people involved in our organization the quantities of food ingredients we needed to bring and everyone signed up to bring something for the meal.
Last night, we all arrived at 5:00 (dinner is served at 7:00 here locally). We all brought the ingredients we had agreed to bring. All food must be prepared there or in a commercial kitchen ahead of time because of health department guidelines. Everyone took a task to do including keeping up with the cleaning of our prep dishes as we cooked. We set up the food and table service on their kitchen countertop area in a buffet line style. At 7:00 the families came and ate it. We ate along with them. Afterwards, we put away the food, cleaned up the serving dishes and wiped down the countertops. Families do their own dishes from the meal. I probably can speak for all that it was a very rewarding evening. Several families and staff members expressed their gratitude about the meal. We enjoyed some fellowship time together as a group and the work was not hard at all.
I would encourage you if you live in a city where a RMD is located. Check into preparing a meal. It is fairly simple service event to organize and do. I think you will find it to be a very rewarding experience.
I would encourage any group looking for a way to help in the community to seriously consider preparing a meal. The procedure is fairly simple. Here is what we did. I looked on the local RMD website here. I found the phone number and e-mail of volunteer coordinator and then contacted her. We scheduled a date that did not already have someone serving that evening and was open for us. She then sent us a confirmation e-mail with some menu suggestions. The students then planned what we were going to make. Next, I e-mailed all the people involved in our organization the quantities of food ingredients we needed to bring and everyone signed up to bring something for the meal.
Last night, we all arrived at 5:00 (dinner is served at 7:00 here locally). We all brought the ingredients we had agreed to bring. All food must be prepared there or in a commercial kitchen ahead of time because of health department guidelines. Everyone took a task to do including keeping up with the cleaning of our prep dishes as we cooked. We set up the food and table service on their kitchen countertop area in a buffet line style. At 7:00 the families came and ate it. We ate along with them. Afterwards, we put away the food, cleaned up the serving dishes and wiped down the countertops. Families do their own dishes from the meal. I probably can speak for all that it was a very rewarding evening. Several families and staff members expressed their gratitude about the meal. We enjoyed some fellowship time together as a group and the work was not hard at all.
I would encourage you if you live in a city where a RMD is located. Check into preparing a meal. It is fairly simple service event to organize and do. I think you will find it to be a very rewarding experience.
.bmp)
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