Just after the new Nationwide Children’s Hospital tower opened, a volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House invited a friend – whom he knew to be a talented woodworker – to join him and check out the large wooden animal sculptures in the hospital’s new building. After the two checked out that new building, the volunteer brought his friend across the street and gave him a tour of the Ronald McDonald House. It was at that moment that George Geissbuhler decided he would volunteer at the House that his friend had shown him. It’s now been three years this month that George has been one of our craftsmen volunteers and he says, “This is just quite fun. I love it.”
George has the most fun working with wood (he also volunteers at the Furniture Bank), here at the Ronald McDonald House. Yet, he not only helps to fix furniture, he also works on all kinds of projects including cleaning filters & fixing air conditioners. “We do the stuff that nobody else wants to do,” he says. “I would say the least enjoyable for us, mostly, is sanding a room. You remove the wallpaper and you have to sand the wall of the glue and then paint it at lunch, then paint it again,” he explains. Then George corrects himself, “Actually, the worst job, is grinding the floor when we’re replacing the floor in a room with water damage. It’s a job that’s not very pleasant, but it’s a VERY good feeling when you’re all done when a room was just kind of beat up and when you’re all done, it’s just like a brand new hotel room.”
Although George points out the toughest jobs he has hated at the House, he quickly pivots to let you know, “I can’t imagine not coming here, frankly.” He shares that he knows he and the other craftsmen are needed here because of the families who need the House. George remembers, “We were at one of the Christmas Dinners here, and sat with a couple. It was a mother and a son. He had multiple surgeries. Hearing their story – they live in West Virginia and they were coming up like once a month. She said, ‘This place is like a home to us.’” George says hearing their story prompted him to confess to the family, “Your story is really why I’m volunteering.” He adds, “They couldn’t say enough nice things about the Ronald McDonald House and it just makes you appreciate… I have 3 children… how healthy they are and never had to stay at a place like this.”
George says he’s only toured one other Ronald McDonald House and that was while he and his wife were on a recent trip to New Zealand. They noticed a donation box for the local Ronald McDonald House sitting at the lobby’s front desk of their hotel. George asked where the House was located and decided with his wife that they would get a cab to go check it out. He says the House manager was so hospitable, giving the couple an hour tour of the House, and leaving them with a gift before they left. It was a rock with the Wellston RMHC logo hand-painted on it! One of only 5 that a mother staying at the House had painted.
He’s known at the House for his woodwork, making everything from the donation box at the Ronald McDonald Family Room at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital to wooden golf bag tags for golf outing participants and the plaque given to the golf classic’s namesake, Joe Mortellaro. But George tells us he’ll be making wooden items for sale at the upcoming holiday bazaar at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, so you can take home some of George’s work yourself. And, he says all of the proceeds from his items at the bazaar will go to RMHC of Central Ohio. Thank you, George, for all of the work you’ve done for the House over the last three years, including sharing your woodwork talent!
