Another way to help...

Okay - so you may recognize our good friends the Smiley's! What's going on here? It looks like they're up to their elbows in ways to help out. They are all in their Run for Hans T-shirts, they were sure all big helpers for that! It's Jim and Carmen, Michael and Ryan. Carmen's holding the piggy bank they ordered from Coins 4 Kids, and Michael and Ryan are holding soda can tabs. You can get a piggy bank at http://www.coins4kids.org/ and the kids have fun saving, then you cash it in and all funds go to Neuroblastoma Research... Hans and Elle have almost filled our little piggy.

OR... you can help Michael Smiley out with his efforts through his Boy Scout Wolf Pack 777. He is saving soda pop tabs to help support the Ronald McDonald House. Jim is the Den Leader and one of the service projects their pack has taken on is helping out the Ronald McDonald House. I can't tell you how important this organization is! It made life feel actually somewhat normal when staying on the 9th floor. Many families are like us - they MOVE IN and stay for 30 day stretches at times. The RM House provides a fully equipped kitchen with coffee and a fridge, iced tea lemonade and lots of snacks. Sometimes volunteers would bring hot cookies at night or homebaked goodies throughout the week. The RM house provides a "family room" on the 9th floor and I do believe certain other floors at TCH. We also have one at the Day Clinic. It really transforms your experience as a patient. I can't really say enough! It's a good organization to team up with in any way you can, individually as a volunteer, or with your scout troops. While we were there one scout troop would come to our family room and provide a sandwich lunch for all the patients and families each month.

You can help Michael Smiley's efforts by just saving your soda pop tab tops and then sending them to Michael. You can get their address by emailing Carmen at stardustsmiles@yahoo.com
He's already saved a bunch. We're giving him our tabs and so is Grandma Kathy! If you drink soda or canned beer, please consider saving them and passing them along. If you'd rather, you can email me at kevinandlara@hotmail.com and I'll connect you with Carmen! Thanks!
It's pretty easy and I think we all find that helping out makes us feel good.

Oh, the RM house has several other functions. They actually have houses for families to stay at a very low rate, this helps for families living hours from the hospital. They actually also have a little mini hotel right there at TCH. These operations are always accepting donations of things like shampoos, mini soap, laundry detergent and dishwashing liquid, as well as paper products like TP, Kleenex, napkins and paper plates. You can check out more ways to help at: http://www.rmhc.org/rmhc/index.html. I'm actually not the hugest McDonald's fast food fan, but I have been thoroughly impressed with the RM House. It has a truly special function that many of us would have been lost with out.

Thanks!
Lara