To our loyal supporters – you are such an integral part of our Mission and so we wanted to reach out to provide you with an update on our House and how we have been progressing through this pandemic.
Guest Family Admissions
On March 21, 2020, we received directives from our RMHC Global leadership team to cease accepting new admissions into the House. We were able to continue caring for the guest families who remained in our House at that time. Thanks to a special COVID-19 fund and generous donations from our community, we purchased food vouchers for these guests to use at the hospital, placed microwaves in guest rooms, provided microwavable meals to guests, and delivered care packages to the hospital. Our last guest family checked out on April 7th. After undergoing renovations to provide our guests with rooms that are updated and furnished with easy-to-clean surfaces and re-evaluating and updating our cleaning and sanitizing practices to promote the healthiest environment for the families who stay with us, we were given the approval to start a phased approach to welcoming families back to stay at the House. During this phased approach, many different protocols will be followed to keep our guests safe and our House operational.
Families will need to contact their social worker to discuss their eligibility and availability at the House.
Closure of the Ronald McDonald Family Room
We made the decision to close the Ronald McDonald Family Room at Carilion Children’s Hospital on March 13, 2020 out of consideration for the health and safety of our volunteers who manage the Room. Since then, we have repurposed that space as a respite area for front line medical personnel in the Children’s Hospital.
During this time, we developed a new program, Comforts of Home. Comfort of Home bags are filled with hand selected items for neonatal or pediatric patient and their parents or siblings, including restaurant or gas gift cards, snacks, water, games, books and toiletries, and delivered to hospital social workers for distribution as needed.
Visitors and Volunteers
Unfortunately, we are unable to have any visitors or volunteers in the House at this time as we continue to observe social distancing practices. Although we cannot currently allow volunteers in our House, there are several ways for you to still get involved and help support our mission of Keeping families close®. Check out these wonderful ways to help from home.
Donations
We understand that finances are tight for many during these unprecedented times, but if you are able to make a contribution, every dollar makes an impact. Monetary donations can be made online or can be mailed directly to 2224 Jefferson Street SE Roanoke, VA 24014. Have a donation of wish list items? Wonderful! We have set up a temporary donation station, located in the walkway just outside our main entrance. As always, tab top donations may be placed in our tab top collection box in the parking lot.
Events
The uncertainties of this pandemic have impacted a number of our fundraising events, including our annual Tab Top Extravaganza, volunteer appreciation banquet, and other planned events. We are, however, looking forward to proceeding with other FUN events! Check out our upcoming events and their status HERE.
As always, we remain committed to the safety of our staff, volunteers, and guest families. We continue to follow guidelines and safeguards set forth by local and state officials as well as our RMHC Global leadership team. We have been provided with a number of extensive and stringent procedures to follow in order to prepare our House to safely take care of our families. We invite you to stay tuned to our website and social media pages for updates as they become available.