For several years, Village Green Properties in Central Ohio have had a fundraising day called Splash Day, centered around the pool at its residential complexes.  On May 2 Industry, Village Green’s newest Columbus property, held it’s first Splash Day at its roof-top pool. Welcoming guests and residents of the party to the lobby was a red and white play house with a yellow flower box on it’s big window. It turns out that a couple of the Industry staff decided to use some left over construction materials from the new structure to build that play house to be delivered to the Ronald McDonald House in Columbus. A few days later, the man who built the little house was dropping it off at the Ronald McDonald House for children to use while staying in our big House. Click the image below to see a short video about the arrival of the little house and hear from the Industry maintenance pro who built it.

NBC News senior investigative correspondent, Cynthia McFadden, and her crew were the first TV news cameras allowed inside the new psychiatric tower at Nationwide Children’s Hospital recently. McFadden aired a lengthy feature report on the Today Show this morning as part of it’s Mind Matters series, and followed up with a more serious report inside the crisis department for Nightly News with Lester Holt, as the anchor broadcast LIVE from Cleveland for an 0n-the-road edition of the newscast.

We’re proud to have the first-of-its-kind Ronald McDonald Family Room in a pediatric-specific psychiatric facility, where family members can take a break from the patient’s room, but still be close by. Since the hospital can’t offer tours to groups, this rare glimpse inside the hospital shows the important work going on that we’re so happy to support.

The pandemic has led to a troubling increase in mental health issues for young people across the country, even as many resources are shrinking. The past year has brought a stunning increase in the proportion of mental health visits to the ER — up 31 percent nationally for those 12 to 17, and 24 percent for kids 5 to 11. The hospital’s new Behavioral Health Pavilion is one of only a few pediatric psychiatry hospitals in the country with in-patient treatment.

Watch both of McFadden’s reports below and take a tour of our family room in the third video.

BobcaThon students dance during 2020’s dance marathon in February.

By Maranda Gammage, RMHC of Central Ohio Development Associate

After months and months of hard work, Bobcathon is finally here this weekend! No matter what obstacle they were faced with this last year, the students at Ohio University have not stopped working to raise funds that are critical in helping families at RMHC.

Usually, Bobcats would be joining together in person to dance and raise funds for families at Ronald McDonald House. This year, students will be coming together from wherever they are to walk, bike, run, swim and hike their own 12K to represent the 12 hours that they would typically be dancing for the kids. They know that families at RMHC cannot take a break from their fight, so these students cannot either!

Click here to check out a recent article in Ohio News about the determination of this group to support our Ronald McDonald House.

Bobcathon has raised nearly HALF A MILLION dollars for RMHC, but they need your help to reach this milestone by Sunday!

You can make a difference TODAY when you click here and donate $25 to help support families of RMHC. Thank you!

Photo courtesy: Linde’s Livestock Photos

The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association (OCA) youth program, BEST (Beef Exhibitor Show Total) is for youth ages 8-21 years and over the last few years, the group has co-hosted the Celebrity Showdown at the Clark County Cattle Battle with an online auction to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities chapter. This fun event features BEST program members dressing up in costumes along with the cattle they show. Sponsored by The Clark County Cattle Producers, this year’s fundraiser February 1-2 gained $37,000.

Click here to read the article covering the event by Ohio’s Country Journal.

Click here to see photos from the event thanks to Linde’s Livestock Photos.

Photo Courtesy: ohiocattle.org

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio is honored to be chosen for the second year by The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association BEST Program for its community service project. The BEST (Beef Exhibitor Show Total) is a youth program of the OCA that recognizes Ohio’s junior beef exhibitors for participation and placings through a series of sanctioned cattle shows that include showmanship competitions. This year, when participants raise at least $100, they’re eligible to enter The Celebrity Showdown, which includes costumed and non-costumed entries in the Champion’s Center at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield. Members of BEST are also encouraged to collect pop tabs that will be donated to RMHC of Central Ohio. The following article, copied from The Pulse, powered by Sullivan Supply, gives more details:

The Ohio Cattlemen’s Association and OCA BEST Program are teaming up with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio (RMHC) for the 2020-21 BEST community service project. RMHC’s mission is to create, find, and support programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children and their families.

Miss Autumn Regula and her doctors, Dr. Maryam Fouladi – Nationwide Children’s and Dr. Lionel Chow – Dayton Children’s will be judging the dress up show this year. Although we can’t have spectators at the show, you can watch it online – thanks to Walton Webcasting, Friday the 29th at 6pm [see promotional video at the end of this article]. Each exhibitor in this special show raises at least $100 for RMHC to participate by dressing up themselves and their calf – it’s a lot of fun, if you have never seen it – be sure to watch Friday!

The Celebrity Showdown from January 2020.

The online auction is hosted by the Clark County Cattle Producers and Clark County Cattle Battle, and all of the proceeds from this online auction go directly to RMHC. The proceeds from several lots will be going to a special research study, this is denoted on each lot. Proceeds will benefit Connect Consortium, DIPG research being conducted by Autumn Regula’s doctor, Dr. Maryam Fouladi. Dr. Fouladi is a global leader in this very rare form of pediatric brain cancer. Her research team currently has four studies that need funding to be able to open and impact children around the globe.

Auction starts Thursday January 28th and closes Monday February 1st, hosted by Breeders World. With over 100 lots, there is something for everyone on the online auction! Take a minute to see all of the wonderful items that have been generously donated by so many great people.

View the auction and place your bids at: www.breedersworld.com/search?auction=584

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Andy Velazquez and his mom Carolina pose for a picture with Frankie Hejduk and SC Crew Cat from the Columbus Crew. Click on the image to watch the Columbus Crew’s video of last week’s celebration at the Ronald McDonald House.

In a year that many would, perhaps, like to forget, a few bright moments stand out. For our Ronald McDonald House, much of that brightness is the gleam of light shining off the new equipment in our Columbus Crew exercise room. For Columbus, the light comes from the shiny 2020 Major League Soccer Cup that now belongs to The Crew. After the team played its 25th and last season at MAPFRE Stadium, they were able to bring home their second MLS Cup win. That stadium will now be the site of The Crew’s practice facility as the city readies for the opening of the team’s brand new stadium downtown this coming summer.

It’s a great comeback from a major league sports franchise that almost left the city a few years back. A campaign by Crew fans to keep the Crew in Columbus worked. So it seems the Crew players & community have the same perseverance as many of our families. This year has been especially challenging. COVID-19 almost canceling the soccer season. The team managed to get a 9-1-3 record, and tough-out major injuries on some players in September & October, but winning only once in seven games. Then, when the playoffs started, eight players tested positive for COVID-19.

Nevertheless, the Columbus Crew organization was committed to making sure our families stayed as healthy as possible while staying at the House. It had been 5 years since the workout room had originally been decked out in black & gold by The Crew and supplied with new equipment. This past week’s $10,000 renovation was made possible by The Crew, MLS Works (Major League Soccer’s social responsibility platform, & Major League Soccer itself with an assist from MLS community partner, AT&T. Our own craftsmen volunteers were happy to put muscle into the assembly of much of the new equipment just before the revealing of the renewed room.

The reimagined space had a mini-celebration last Thursday – the eve of the eve of the MLS Cup game – with former MLS Cup Champion and MLS Great Frankie Hejduk, along with Crew Cat (Crew SC’s club mascot), onsite to surprise two families staying at our House. The special moment also featured virtual greetings by Crew stars Gyasi Zardes in addition to the team’s Chief Business Officer and EVP, Steve Lyons and a lunch provides by MLS Works for all families in the House. It was a fun celebration for the two families who were able to see the new improved exercise room first, even if none of the players could be there.

It was announced later that day that two more players – a couple of the team’s best – had tested positive for COVID-19 and wouldn’t be able to be in the MLS Cup. And yet, last Saturday, with all those odds against the Crew, they pulled out a 3-0 win over Seattle, the current MLS Cup holders. Before leaving the celebration, Hejduk promised a couple of families that he would bring the cup here to the House! We’re not sure if he was joking, but our families have sunglasses ready to see the sunshine reflected off that cup in person!

Photo Courtesy: Telhio Credit Union

We love our farming families and their communities. McKalynne Helmke was one of the 4-H members who sold her steer at last year’s amazing Ohio State – College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences Dean’s Charity Steer Show. But her support didn’t stop after the steer show was over. She’s continued to get the support of local businesses in Tuscarawas County and major support from Sarchione Ford Of Waynesburg in her drive to get food for families that need to stay at the Ronald McDonald House in Columbus.

Click here to read all about it in this article recently published by local publication, The Bargain Hunter. 

Photo courtesy instagram.com/andrewmc2401

Every school year, students at Ohio University organize a dance marathon called Bobcathon to support Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio. Every year many students in this organization go above and beyond to raise awareness about our mission while raising funds throughout the year so our House can continue to house families that need to be near their children in Columbus hospitals.

But Andrew Connolly is different. He seems to have taken fundraising for Bobcathon to a new level. Ten of his last 12 posts on Instagram were about Bobcathon. “Bobcathon to me is a truly life-changing experience, and an organization that I am so grateful to be a part of,” Connolly told the The Connecticut Post, a daily newspaper located in Bridgeport, Connecticut near his hometown of Shelton. “We work to support the amazing children, families, volunteers and staff of the Ronald McDonald House of Central Ohio,” Connolly added. “I have learned more — not only about the House and its work, but also about who I am, and where my passions lie.” Connolly, who is director of Ronald McDonald House Activities for Bobcathon, talked to the paper in hopes of inspiring folks in the area where he grew up, to donate to Bobcathon to benefit RMHC of Central Ohio. He’s more than half way toward his personal goal of reaching $1,250.

Read the full Connecticut article by clicking here.

When a creative team comes along and offers to donate its talents toward helping Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio, we really appreciate it because we know the work it takes to turn an idea into something spectacular. That’s just what Pixel Park did this past week when the fruits of their efforts resulted in the birth of what we believe will be the new faces of our pop tab program: The dynamic duo of Fred & Murray, superhero kids who are now the inspiration for our pop tab drive. Pixel Park has been a supporter of RMHC for a few years now, with donations and volunteers in the House. This latest donation solidifies a beautiful relationship with this creative company.

“Pop Tab Heroes is a heartfelt story of two inseparable brothers who become separated… and their journey back to one another. This piece has been a labor of love of ours here in the studio, and we hope you’ll join us in celebrating its release today (and maybe even start collecting tons of pop tabs alongside us!) Let’s make something ordinary, extraordinary.” – Pixel Park

In addition to creating these lovable characters, Pixel Park has launched a campaign for folks to encourage pop tab donations to RMHC, with a goal of getting a mountain of a million tabs to the House!

“We are in this together.” That phrase has become a call to action across the community. For us at Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) of Central Ohio, it means going the extra mile to provide a safe environment for the families we serve. Heading into our fifth month of the living thru a pandemic, the Ronald McDonald House continues to be a refuge for families with a child in the hospital.

Feeding our guests was a top priority when news of the Pandemic began. Typically, thousands of volunteers provide both the food supplies and people power to create meals for our guests. Our team was unsure how we would source and afford fresh and healthy foods. But like our inspirational guests, we don’t give up too easily. We decided to be proactive and grow healthy food! The photos at the bottom of the page are of the Ronald McDonald House garden which was planted by staff and a few volunteer gardening experts.

Regardless of the pandemic, young people still have existing medical and mental health needs. The Ronald McDonald Care Mobile (RMCM) has been working in partnership with Nationwide Children’s Hospital to continue to provide access to much needed primary care.  The Care Mobile serves as the medical home for many children and has an obligation to continue to provide the highest level of care possible. Our team of medical professionals on the RMCM helped divert patients with no covid-19 related symptoms, but still needing medical services, from urgent cares and emergency rooms.

In addition, we were training and preparing for our September 15 opening of the new Ronald McDonald Family Room (RMFR) in the Big Lots Behavioral Health Pavilion at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. This new Family Room will provide support for those dealing with childhood mental health challenges, the only facility of its kind in the US. Hospital staff encourage breaks from the hospital floor for the wellbeing of family members. Physical wellbeing; feeling refreshed and recharged.  Psychological and emotional wellbeing; feeling less stressed. The Family Room allows family members to switch from the role of providers of care to recipients of care. This experience provides respite from the stress and challenges of their circumstances.

Architectural rendering courtesy Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

This unique RMFR will also provide the opportunity to find relief from worries and stress related to financial pressures. Families that use this space will generally save $37 a day on average in meals, laundry and travel. They can also shower, store some food in a fridge, have a nap, prepare food and drinks, do some laundry, spend time with their family, talk openly about their feelings, or be alone in a relaxing homelike environment.

Young people have an extraordinary need in Central Ohio and across the country for more behavioral health services and research to help children and adolescents. The Ronald McDonald Family Room is located within the walls of a unique facility dedicated exclusively to child and adolescent behavioral and mental health issues on a pediatric medical campus. The facility features inpatient services, intensive outpatient services, a Psychiatric Crisis Department and research all under one roof.

Family centered care is a priority and the Ronald McDonald Family room will offer respite to families who have children being seen in all these areas. Family-centered care is a priority. Outdoor courtyards, a sanctuary and the Ronald McDonald Family Room offer respite to families. Family-centered care is a priority. Outdoor courtyards, a sanctuary and the Ronald McDonald Family Room offer respite to families. This integrated pediatric behavioral health approach serves as a model for other health care systems across the nation. We are extremely proud to offer this much-needed service to children and families in Central Ohio and beyond.

I want to personally thank each and every one of you who has stepped up to support the services that we provide at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio. If you would like to learn more about how you can support our mission, please visit RMHC-CentralOhio.org or feel free to contact me or someone on our team directly. We truly are better together.

If you would like to make a donation to support families at the House: https://rmhc-centralohio.org/donation-form/

With deepest care,

Dee Anders

CEO and Executive Director

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio