A home away from home for families with seriously sick kids
Have you ever thought about how you can give a little back to the community without spending months wading through swamps counting rare frogs? Perhaps you should consider the 'Make A Meal' program for one of the
Ronald McDonald Houses?
Attached to the major women's and children's hospitals such as Princess Margaret Hospital in Perth and Sydney Children's Hospital in Sydney, there are now 13 Ronald McDonald Houses across Australia. They are a home away from home for the families of seriously sick children who are undergoing treatment at hospital. But unless you are one of the 65,000 families who have been helped by Ronald McDonald House you have probably never been inside one of these amazing places.
The Make A Meal Program involves a small team of volunteers providing all the ingredients for a two course dinner and then cooking it on-site. Not having to worry about what is for dinner may seem like a small thing, but it is something that your book club, or footy club, or neighbours can do in an evening, and it gives the families a chance to concentrate on what is most important – helping their ill children. Families are often uprooted from their normal lives with little warning and can spend weeks or even months many thousands of kilometres from home.
The night we cooked, there were six of us from our Mum's Group. Someone had organised the recipes (meatloaf, quiche, salad and self-saucing puddings), and we brought our own ingredients. When the meal was ready we were invited to sit and eat with the families. Even though there was the inevitable sadness knowing each of these families had a seriously ill child a few hundred metres up the road, it didn't take much to find a common thread and spend the night chatting like old friends.
Taking part in the Make A Meal program can be a one-off or a regular gig, and no one is expecting you to cook like you're on Master Chef. Well, perhaps no one is expecting high cuisine, but cooking from the heart will certainly make you a winner.
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here for your nearest house.
