Chicago Communications gets involved with Ronald McDonald House's: 'Meals From the Heart'     

Last June, I got the opportunity to tag along on an important visit to the Ronald McDonald House near Lurie Children’s Hospital in downtown Chicago. You see, the charity was nearing its Grand Opening (to become the world’s largest) and we were making a special delivery. Motorola Solutions was kindly donating some new two way radios (walkie-talkies) for the staff to use at the Ronald McDonald House and Chicago Communications had programmed them. The Motorola Digital SL7550 portable two-way radios they received were to become the key communication tool at the facility. Having instant communication assists the RMHC team within the house and also allows the hospital to communicate back and forth in times of need, when family members aren't able to be reached on their cell phones.

     It was also then that our group received a tour of the gorgeous facility and learned about some of the volunteer programs the house holds in order to keep their doors open.  At the time, Jim Lambrecht (from Chicago Communications) had said, “We greatly appreciate the opportunity to be associated with such a wonderful cause and we look forward to helping the Ronald McDonald House however we can in the future.”

    Well we wanted to keep good on that promise!  Last week a group of 17 volunteers from Chicago Communications participated in a program at the RMHC called ‘Meals from the Heart’. To participate we worked as a group to plan a menu, purchase the ingredients and prepare the meal in their full service kitchen. Our home-cooked meal consisted of cooked ham, broasted chicken, cheesy potatoes and much more (see pictures of the spread here!). Once everything was ready, our team of volunteers served dinner to the families and volunteer staff of the Ronald McDonald House in its downtown Chicago location. It is only due to the tremendous efforts from every member of our team that we pulled it off! Our group worked together every step of the way. In one of the volunteers' words, "The teamwork and generosity was incredible." 

    The mission of Ronald McDonald Houses is to improve the health and well-being of children in need with added emphasis on caring for the families of those children. And this 'Meal from the Heart' was one small step towards completing that mission. The event reminded us that the saying "the kitchen is the heart of every home"-- is very true.  Needless to say, this activity made us thankful from the 'bottom of our hearts' to be able to help. Beyond it being a great team building exercise, this was a great way to meet those families and help fill a huge need. It was our great pleasure to partake in this event and as a bonus everyone had so much fun! 

We look forward to making another visit back to the RMHC in the future!

To read about our first visit to the RMHC and see inside, click here.

To view pictures from this event AND of our initial tour inside the facility visit our Facebook page or click here! 

To learn more about the Ronald McDonald House Charity organization visit their main website: http://rmhccni.org/

This article was written by Jill McNamara, Internet Marketing Coordinator at Chicago Communications. Jill has written all of the Meet Our Techs & Employee Spotlight articles for ChiComm's blog and continues to seek opportunities for similar articles. If you'd like to submit a suggestion for the blog, Contact Us!