Forty years ago, Chris Poches started traveling with his mom to Columbus where his younger sister would get treatment for cancer at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. His family was the first to stay at the newly opened Ronald McDonald House on 18th Street, next to the hospital. As an adult, Chris has been a server with O’Charley’s restaurants in Columbus and has played the part of Santa for children at the restaurants. On Saturday, December 3, Chris will once again become Kris Kringle for this year’s RMHC Breakfast with Santa, held this year at the O’Charley’s in Grove City. Click the image below to hear as he reminisces about staying at the House.

Tickets: rmhc-centralohio.org/event/breakfast-with-santa-at-ocharleys-grove-city

When the O’Charley’s in Grove City agreed to be the venue for our Breakfast with Santa fundraiser this year, it was the first time the venue would be providing our Santa. What’s more, it turns out that one of the servers who asked to play an integral role in the event was with the first family to stay at our original Ronald McDonald House on 18th Street when it opened 40 years ago this year. We took a moment during his busy lunch shift to ask Chris about what he remembered from the first of what would be many stays at the House when his 2-year-old sister was diagnosed with cancer. As is often the case with stories we hear, his sister beat cancer and is a healthy woman today.

Our seventh year of Breakfast With Santa takes place with two sessions on Saturday, December 3. The first is at 8 a.m. and includes the Grinch and Cindy Lou Who joining Santa. The second session at 9:15 a.m. will have Santa and includes a raffle drawing at the end with several gift baskets for multiple winners. Click here for more information and to get tickets for the whole family. All proceeds go to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio to keep families close.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio welcomes Elizabeth Boor to our development department to help grow support for our chapter at a time when our physical Ronald McDonald House is doubling in size.

By Elizabeth Boor

My name is Elizabeth Boor and I am ecstatic to be joining the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio team as a Major Gifts Officer.

Starting in Development is a pretty large career change for me. Prior to this role, I was an Animal Programs Specialist at the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium. I bounced around different regions of the zoo over the decade that I worked there, but most recently you would have found me in the Adventure Cove region training the California sea lions and the harbor seals.

I knew for quite some time that animal training would not be my last career. I started identifying what the best parts of my day were, and I quickly settled on anything that allowed me to share my passions with the people around me. Working with the zoo’s philanthropy team to steward and engage donors during behind-the-scenes tours was an area that I felt this true sense of purpose and fulfillment. I loved to show guests and donors that their dollars could be converted from a simple number to true impact.

With that in mind, I tried to be open to the right opportunities. I love the animals I worked with and it would take something really special to make me walk away. I had some experience fundraising for Nationwide Children’s Hospital, and I immediately applied when a development role for RMHC of Central Ohio became available. After meeting with Chief Development Officer Angie Hartley and Chief Executive Officer Dee Anders, I walked out of the House knowing that I had found exactly the opportunity for which I was searching.

Changing careers can be intimidating, but I am drafting this blog post at the end of my second week and I’m already confident that I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I am so excited to be on this new path that will allow me to contribute to such a vital cause as a member of an incredible and inspiring team.

The cause, the atmosphere, the staff, the volunteers… It’s safe to say “The House with Heart” has quickly worked its way into mine.

Editor’s Note: This guest post is from the Huntington Ronald McDonald House Facebook page last week.

266 days. Almost the entire first year of Carter’s life spent in the hospital, with mama and dada back and forth between our Huntington RMHC and Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio so they could be by his side every second. They finally made their journey home yesterday! Carter was born weighing under a pound, just 15 ounces. He has had a long journey, but he’s a fighter, and so are his parents! His mama wrote:

“In February, we hurried into the operating room to bring you into this world. We didn’t even get a glimpse of you before you were rushed into a separate room to be revived and intubated. You were just 26 weeks gestation and given less than 50% chance of survival. It was 10 hours later before I was able to see you for the first time. You were so incredibly tiny, not even weighing a pound.
A month before ever holding you.
On a ventilator for 5 months.
Being life flighted to another state.
Emergency eye injections and eye surgery.
Celebrating holidays & birthdays in the hospital.
So many ultrasounds, x-rays, and echos.
Every step of breathing support.
Feeding tube after feeding tube.
Countless blood transfusions.
And so many scares you gave us.
BUT we’ve made it! After 266 incredibly hard days, we are finally bringing our baby boy home from the NICU for the first time!”

Vickie Goodman knew the immense value of the Ronald McDonald House near the Jackson, Mississippi hospital where she worked as a NICU nurse for decades. She never thought she would end up adopting one of her patients with special issues one day and needing to stay at a Ronald McDonald House herself on a regular basis. Click the image above to learn how Vickie decided she still had more love to give after raising five kids, and how Ronald McDonald House has been here for her and her daughter when they’ve needed to to travel to Columbus for care.

For nearly a decade, members of the motorcycle club, Ohio Motorheads have come together from around Ohio for a pop tab “drive” to donate tabs to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio. This year’s donation of tabs was one of their largest hauls to the House yet, but it was a bittersweet trip on their bikes to the House this time. In 2018, the club raised funds and sponsored a paver for our rooftop garden with the money from that donation going to help our chapter keep families near their children in Columbus hospitals. When their friend and past president Jerry “Coop” Cooper passed away a year ago, the group decided to raise money and sponsor another rooftop paver in his memory. After all, the members say Coop was instrumental in starting the club’s tab drive tradition for RMHC. The paver was unveiled with members of the organization gathering for the special tribute in April.

RMHC of Central Ohio gives gratitude to Ohio Motorheads for making the trip to deliver the tabs they’ve collected over the year every year and for sponsoring the pavers that have now cemented Coop’s legacy and the club’s support with our charity.

There are several ways to honor the memory of a loved one with support of our charity chapter. Please email Angela.Hartley@RMHC-CentralOhio.org with your questions about Planned Giving too.

We love hearing from families that have felt at home at our House. When we share these kudos, we want you to know that we share the gratefulness with our circle of supporters including donors & volunteers. The photos of the patient’s sister say it all.

“Thank you, @rmhcofcentraloh for creating such a fun, welcoming environment during a hard time for our family. While Sadie’s baby brother is in the NICU at @nationwidekids she has been able to enjoy the RMH with mom and dad. Thank you to anyone who donates to this organization. They have been a huge blessing to our family.” – Nancy Sponseller on Instagram

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Nancy Sponseller (@nanannsponseller)

By Rick Shepherd, Communications Manager, RMHC of Central Ohio

Some may not be aware that we are required by Nationwide Children’s Hospital to have staff members, not volunteers, welcome families and family members to our Ronald McDonald Family Room in the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion. That’s why many of us who wear different hats professionally with our chapter, can often be found greeting folks to our room in the BHP.

I just wanted to share a short chat I had with the grandma of a patient being cared for here in the BHP, where I’m working today. When checking her in to our family room, she said she was from nearby Pickerington, Ohio and she’s been here to the room several times over that past several weeks, but the patient is being released and she would be headed home today…except that now, a hurricane is probably destroying her house as we speak. She further explained, with tears in her eyes, she’s the patient’s grandma from Florida and she’s actually been staying with the patient’s parent’s home in Pickerington to support them and her grandchild during this tough mental health crisis for the family. However, she actually lives in Punta Gorda, Florida where Hurricane Ian – a category 4 storm at the moment and one of the worst in a hundred years to hit the area – is currently baring down. She tells me she may not have a house to go home to now and feels fortunate to be staying with family up here a little longer, until the storm passes and she can return to assess the damage. There have been more than a few families here today in the sitting area watching The Weather Channel coverage of the storm with great concern for those they know there.

It’s a good reminder of the additional stressors, unrelated to their medical journey here, that can be playing a part in the lives of the families we’re caring for when they’re in our House or one of our family rooms. We here at RMHC of Central Ohio are also thinking of our volunteers and “extended work family” here who may be in Florida, have homes there, or who themselves have family members there as well as all of the RMHC chapters in Florida – especially along the west coast – who are facing quite a stress-test right now themselves. Here’s hoping everyone who lives in Florida is staying safe and has the best possible outcome.

Samantha and her son Ivan have been guests at the Ronald McDonald House when Ivan was being treated at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. See how the House has impacted their family by clicking the image above.

Editor’s Note: We often get messages of gratitude from families that have stayed with us. Some of these include offers to pay it forward with monetary donations, in-kind donations of items, and sometimes it’s offers of professional services. This is one of those letters. Thanks to this offer, families will soon be able to have a break from the stress of the hospital thanks to these parents, owners of a mobile entertainment company.

About six years ago, we found ourselves in need as our daughter (6 months old at the time) was life flighted an hour away and spent two weeks on life support. With little to no resources we had no way to be near our daughter during this time. In stepped the Ronald McDonald House! They were a life saver in many ways. My family was able to still enjoy our daughters first Christmas together, we were fed, checked on and taken care of very well.

Now we find that our daughter (now 6 years old) is suffering from Cancer. Columbus is a three-hour drive for us, early morning and late-night appointments make this drive very stressful. Last week, again Ronald McDonald House was there for us! Whereas we try to make a donation every time we stay, it never seems enough for us. Being owners of a small family operated business finances get tight quickly for us. But, being owners of a family operated business gives us an opportunity to give back.

Should RMHC ever need help, looking for new entertainment or fundraising ideas, or just want something to do, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Weekends fill pretty fast for us, but we will do our best to have room for your outstanding organization.

Thank you for all you do, and continue to do for our family and families who find themselves in a time of need.

Duaine and Apryl Cluckey
Four of a Kind Entertainment