For those of you who are not aware, Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) provides a home away from home for seriously ill children and their families traveling long distances for the treatment of their illness.
At the heart of their Program, the 18 Ronald McDonald Houses (in Victoria and Tasmania) provide accommodation needs adjacent to all major Children’s Hospitals which is critical for supporting the family unit during these stressful circumstances. In addition, RMHC operates three other key Programs including 19 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms, located within the Children’s Hospitals which provide a sanctuary and much-needed services during a long hospital stay, 5 Ronald McDonald Family Retreats which provide holiday and accommodation needs to help families reconnect and take a break and their Ronald McDonald National Learning Program, currently servicing more than 1200 children each week, covers the gap in education suffered during the treatment of their serious illness.
Going above and beyond just the accommodation needs, at the 19 Ronald McDonald Houses, RMHC staff and volunteers often cook up a storm to help feed their families in need, and up until our donation last week, the only way to store these wonderful food donations involved a LOT of single-use plastic food containers. We are thrilled to report that this packaging waste has changed now that there are retubs on hand!
Each night, up to 101 families will call RMHC home within Victoria and Tasmania alone. If you consider that each person can eat up to 3 meals a day from single-use containers, even a small family of 4 people can use 12 containers a day - over 101 families, that's a whopping 1200+ single-use containers a DAY.
This massive impact is why we are absolutely thrilled to be able to divert thousands upon thousands of single-use disposable containers away from landfills by donating to this incredible charity.
For those of you interested as either individuals or on behalf of the businesses you work for, there are so many ways you can help too. Some options including adopting a bedroom, lounge area or pantry for these families in distress. This involves making a one-off or monthly donation. There are also corporate group volunteering opportunities.
If you want more information on how to help, please either contact RMHC directly or get in touch with us and we will happily connect you with this very deserving charity.
There are 900 single-use plastic food containers that can be seen. These retubs (in the picture below) will replace all of them.
For more information on how you can help this incredible charity through the adopt a room program, please contact RMHC at:
Beth Allan
Corporate Partnership Manager
03 9562 6223
beth.allan@rmhc.org.au
Annalese Fowler
Community Partnership Coordinator
03 9562 6223
annalese.fowler@rmhc.org.au