Happy 1st of December everyone!
So Christmas is 24 days away and I am particularly excited about this one. First of all, I get to go home to be with my family and also I have a lot of interesting things planned for this trip (most involving charity). I was going to wait till the week before Christmas to go shopping for the loved ones, but I decided to do a few yesterday. My list is rather long (Lord help me). Alright, back to business! The students at my school are always organizing drives for charities which makes it easy to give back and be involved with the community. Yesterday, I noticed that there was a toy drive for the Ronald McDonald House in Baltimore. So of course I had to get involved :-)
The Ronald McDonald House (RMH) provides a “home-away-from-home” for families so they can stay close by their hospitalized child at little or no cost. Their Houses are built on the simple idea that nothing else should matter when a family is focused on healing their child – not where they can afford to stay, where they will get their next meal or where they will lay their head at night to rest (taken from their website). They provided housing for six major hospitals in Baltimore city; University of Maryland Medical Center, R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, Johns Hopkins Hospital, The Rubin Institute at Sinai Hospital, Kennedy Krieger Institute and Mt. Washington Pediatric Hospital. And surprisingly they are the ONLY RMH in Maryland. They house as many as 36 families every night and only charge the families $15 a might if they can afford it. This is an amazing feat considering that they are an independent nonprofit organization, and as a result they are responsible for 100 percent of their $1,200,000 annual operating budget. Therefore they rely on the help of corporations and individuals. Christmas season is here and the children need gifts to brighten their spirits. Most families have been away from home for months and would really appreciate it. Also consider volunteering your time to help with events at the house. I will!
My gifts (the teddy says a prayer when you press its hands which I thought was just adorable and perfect).
LINKS
Here is the link to the RMH website, please get involved with at least one (click on the "How you can help" tab).
Here is the link for the RMH in Baltimore (remember that it's the only one in Maryland).
Here is the link for the WISHLIST for the RMH in Baltimore. (Their needs are very basic and relatively inexpensive). Please do the best you can...
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