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WE NEED YOUR HELP FEEDING FAMILIES INSIDE CHILDREN’S MERCY!
We are VERY LOW on meals at our busiest House. Can you help us meet the need?
Simply sign up for ANY available meal opportunity at Children’s Mercy to help feed families that need to be steps away from their sick child.
The RMHC-KC Meal Program
Gather a group of coworkers, family members, friends or other community members to come volunteer in our Ronald McDonald Houses or Ronald McDonald Family Room preparing food for the families that stay with us! Your gift of a warm plate of food or an individually packaged meal allows the families staying at RMHC-KC to enjoy freshly prepared food while they are away from home.
HOW IT WORKS
By signing up to serve, your group of will choose the menu, bring all of the ingredients needed, and prepare 40-50 meals (12-15 meals in the Family Room at OPR) in our kitchens. Your group will serve cafeteria-style to families then package remaining food into individual containers for those who can’t make it to the meal time to enjoy later.
Meal Time Opportunities
Lunch
10:30 AM – Start lunch preparations
12:30 PM – Lunch is ready to serve
1:00 PM – Begin packing up leftovers
Dinner
3:30 PM – Start dinner preparations
5:30 PM – Dinner is ready to serve
6:00 PM – Begin packing up leftovers
Our Locations
CHERRY STREET CAMPUS
(LONGFELLOW HOUSE AND WYLIE HOUSE)
Provide a meal at one of our Houses on our downtown campus. Each kitchen can accommodate 5-10 volunteers and is equipped with basic cookware essentials.
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE – CHILDREN’S MERCY
Provide a meal at our new House inside Children’s Mercy’s Hospital! The House inside CMH can accommodate 6- 10 volunteers and is equipped with basic cookware essentials.
FAMILY ROOM IN OVERLAND PARK REGIONAL
Provide 12-15 meals at the Family Room inside Overland Park Regional Medical Center. The Ronald McDonald Family Room kitchen can accommodate 6 volunteers and is equipped with basic cookware essentials.
Sign Up!
Access our online sign-up calendar anytime to see the most up-to-date availability and sign-up for an opportunity when it’s convenient for you and your group!
For more information please contact us at [email protected]
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q: Are children allowed to join the meal group?
A: Kids are welcome to volunteer if they are old enough to contribute to the volunteer experience and are supervised by their guardians on-site. Please consider any kids a part of the maximum number of volunteers for an opportunity. For groups that are a majority of minors, we ask that they are over the age of 13 and have guardian supervision but if a couple of kids are coming in addition to the group, we don’t have an age requirement.
Q: What food should we make? What do families like?
A: We are beyond grateful for any meals volunteer meal groups can provide! We do get a lot of pasta with red sauce, so any variation away from that is much appreciated! (For the families who have been here for weeks or months, eating spaghetti once or twice a week can be a lot.) Preparing your favorite food, favorite family recipes, opposite season food, and putting a slight twist on classics (Use a non-red sauce with pasta, make quesadillas or enchiladas instead of tacos) can be a great way to help provide some variation for families! Check out our menu ideas page for some inspiration!
Q: Do we provide drinks?
A: Drinks are encouraged but not required! Individual servings/bottles are very popular with families. We have Coke machines, a water/ice machine, and milk and juice in our fridges but bottles of water, sports drinks, tea, non-Coke product soda, juice, etc. are appreciated by families! (Due to limited fridge space, we try to avoid drinks made in pitchers or large jugs that need to be refrigerated.)
Q: Do we need to provide paper goods (plates, plastic utensils, napkins, etc.)?
A: We have “real” plates, bowls, cups, and silverware families can use but we welcome groups to bring disposable supplies to make clean-up easier. We always welcome donations of those items as well!