On June 27, 2017, Judy Skinner worked her last day as a volunteer at the Columbus Ronald McDonald House after serving families there for 35 years. over that time, she had been featured in many social media posts, blogs, and news items about her service to our families. But when she walked away from the House on that day in 2017, she didn’t stop volunteering for RMHC of Central Ohio altogether. In fact, within a month of leaving her position as Housewarmer at the House, she went to work volunteering at the newly opened Ronald McDonald Family Room at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital. The RMFR doesn’t have a full-time paid staff member. It is a volunteer who keeps the room open and available every day for family members who have a baby in the NICU or a child who has been admitted to the hospital. For those family members who visit the room when Judy happens to be volunteering, they get the attention of our most experienced volunteer and a mother who understands the importance of having a space for respite while caring for an ill child in a hospital.
Judy and Tom Skinner had a 13-year-old child undergoing treatment at Children’s Hospital in the late 1970s and RMHC of Central Ohio did not yet exist. “Greg, our son, had leukemia for 14 months and passed away,” Judy tells us. She says she never forgot the families she and her husband saw at the hospital adding, “It seemed the best thing to do following that experience would be to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House. It was my main way to help people who had been in my same situation.” So, after volunteering at the House since it opened in 1982, and through it’s expansion in 2014 to become the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world, Judy, who lives in Clintonville, felt it was time to slow things down a bit, but not stop completely. “The Ronald McDonald Family Room was a nice way to continue helping in some way, closer to home. Talking with families going through that same situation feels good because I know it helps them.”
The RMFR at Riverside Methodist Hospital just celebrated it’s second anniversary. Thanks to volunteers like Judy, thousands of families have been able to find respite from the stress of having a child in the hospital, if just for a moment. This month, RMHC of Central Ohio kicks off a volunteer-driven campaign to support the Ronald McDonald Family Room. If you would like to show your appreciation to volunteers such as Judy, for keeping the RMFR open and available for families, click here to learn more about the #MyWhy fundraiser.