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Ronald McDonald House of San Diego e-Bulletin
Connecting you to the cause
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We want to show you the impact of your support
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A new tool for our supporters and
families
Ronald
McDonald House of San Diego is excited to announce the launch of our
new website. After months of preparing and renovating the old
site, it is now more inviting, informative, and user-friendly for all
of our supporters and families. It can still be found at http://www.rmhcsd.org/
Visitors can connect to the cause that has touched
thousands of deserving families since we opened our doors in
1980. Supporters can read stories of families they have helped,
view updated photos and videos of happenings around the House, as
well as past event photos.
Read all about the history of the organization and how
we've grown from a small 12 bedroom House to a beautiful new 47
bedroom, 65,000 square foot Ronald McDonald House, complete with a Family Care Center. Get
introduced to our staff, or board of trustees, and our hard-working
volunteers, without whom RMHC-SD could not survive.
The new website also encourages visitors to Get Involved with an up to date
Calendar of events and a
detailed description of various volunteer opportunities. Come
by the House to clean, cook, or just help us make this the best home
away from home we can for our families. Find out all the ways
that you can Support
families with children in the hospital; from food and spices to
donations to provide a comfortable room in which to stay.
The site will also keep you informed by way of our News Room, constantly updating
new information regarding the House. An archive of press
releases, published articles, and House information will be available
for visitors to view at any time in order to stay informed about past
and present news.
Our Capital Campaign section
explains the great need for individuals and organizations to invest
in the new Ronald McDonald House. There is information
regarding funding rooms as well as making a legacy gift.
The Ronald McDonald House of San Diego could not
continue to grow and help families without the generous contributions
of supporters like you. Visit our new website today to watch a
video, read a family story, become a volunteer, donate and so much
more!
more...
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Testimonials from our volunteers
The Dinner Program
at the Ronald McDonald House is thriving and provides a benefit to
both the families at the House and the volunteers who serve them
generously with their time and energy. Recently, a few dinner
volunteers shared their experiences with us. We hope that others
reading this can relate to what they experienced and consider calling
the House to help with this very important program.
Pei Lee - "The Monday before Thanksgiving,
after finishing up cleaning kitchen and ready to go home, on the way
to parking lot in the elevator, we met a family who we just served at
the kitchen. The Mom thanked us for the delicious dinner and
for being there. I replied "I hope you will have a
wonderful Thanksgiving". She immediately burst into
tears... I hugged her and deep in my heart I wished her and her baby
well... I was so deeply touched by the incident and wished to do more
for the people who look alright on the outside but burst in tears
inside. We just simply enjoy being there, working in the world's most
powerful kitchen plus teaming up with the most
wonderful people at the Ronald McDonald House."
Shana Sanguinetti - [After entering and] winning a
photo contest in our local community paper... "I knew that once
I won, I would donate all of the money for the dinner at the Ronald
McDonald House on October 30, 2009. All of the money won from the
contest bought all of the ribs, drinks, etc. for our dinner. It was
awesome! It makes us feel so good to help and donate. My favorite
part of being there is serving the food and meeting all the families.
Thank you for giving us this wonderful opportunity."
Carlos Sanguinetti - "After being diagnosed
with cancer this year...something inside me...kept saying that this
all happened for a much larger reason than myself. That this
was to give me the gift of a different perspective, to do more, to
give back and change lives in ways I hadn't before. After much
soul searching, I came across your website and immediately was pulled
toward the idea to helping children. Helping these people, making
them smile is the only thing that mattered...all of us have found out
that a moment of joy, a smile, a comforting conversation is more
powerful than any situation affecting these people in their
lives."
Matt Teeter - "As dinner was winding down I got
a chance to talk with a family from the Murrieta area. In the
process, I came to understand exactly how important the Ronald
McDonald House is to these families. The family expressed heartfelt
gratitude for our help and truly appreciated everything that the
Ronald McDonald House provided for them. I was touched by their
story and I knowing that the simple act of making a meal and spending
a few hours of my time could mean so much to so many different people
really makes me feel like I'm giving back to a great cause."
more...
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Our new House gets recognized
 For the San Diego Ronald
McDonald House, 2009 will remain in our memory as the year we
succeeded in expanding from a 12-bedroom to a 47-bedroom House. We
will always be proud of the partnerships with others who shared our
vision, and met the challenge, of creating a new haven for families
in need that will take us into the future. We are equally proud of
the public recognition and accolades the House received, not only
for its function, beauty and design, but also for the efforts
supporting this major accomplishment. Below are the honors received
to-date:
December 6, McGraw Hill
Publications awarded us the "Overall Top Construction
Project in Southern California" along with "Outstanding
Project Management (Small)" and the "Green
Building" awards.
2009 AGC Build San Diego
Award - Barnhart, Inc., our construction partner, won the highest
award - a "Build San Diego Award"
October 6th, Molina
Healthcare of California awarded Sandy Camarillo their "2009
Honoree for Support Groups and Service Clubs".
A wonderful recognition for what Sandy and her team have
accomplished and do accomplish every day.
October 8th, The San Diego
business Journal awarded us their 2009 Health Care Champion
Award for Organization Outreach.
Our PR Firm, Kim Lande and
Mary Schmidt-Krebs, won their industry "2009 Mark of
Excellence Award" for Media Relations for Non Profit.
We were nominated for the 2009
Orchid Award for both Architecture and Interior Design.
The San Diego Architectural Foundation makes this annual
recognition.
more...
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So many groups and people to thank!
 A special thanks to the many
friends who opened their hearts to share their talents & made
donations to help our families celebrate the Holidays. Here are
some of the many Elves who helped us. We are grateful to everyone
for bringing the holidays to our families.
- Stephanie Pierite and the staff of the District
Attorney's Office, raised over $1,500 by hosting
various auctions and fundraisers as part of Operation
Green Sweep, promoting environmentally friendly
activities among their staff.
- El Camino Creek
School donated over 1,000 toys!
- Southwest Airlines,
a national partner of Ronald McDonald House Charities,
presented a $9,000 check, representing proceeds of their local
Golf Tournament.
- Trevor's Toybox
http://www.trevorstoybox.org/,
delivered lots of holiday gifts for kids, making everything
merrier.
- Emilio Nares
Foundation http://www.emilionaresfoundation.org/
arranged for a visit from The California Ballet
Company http://www.californiaballet.org/
who entertained our families with a few dances from the
Nutcracker. Then Clara read the Nutcracker story from a big
pop-up book, in both English and Spanish, to all the children
nestled around her in our Great Room. A very special holiday
treat.
- Luekemia Lymphoma
Society http://www.lls.org/, is
partnering with the Ronald McDonald House to host a holiday
party for about 300, full of gifts and fun for the kids served
by our two organizations. And of course, Santa will be there
too! The party space was donated by the Sheraton.
- Moceri Produce,
has showered us with food donations, and Feeding
America http://www.feedingamericasd.org/
has provided food at a deep discount; both allowing us to
provide three cooked meals every day for our guests.
- Kiwanis of Rancho
Bernardo, invested hours
and hours to "Deck the Halls" of our House with
Holiday decor, to delight both young and old. The centerpiece
is a live Tree in our Great Room, and wreaths were hung on
every guest room door.
- The Paul
Ecke Ranch http://www.ecke.com/,
adorned every inch of our House from the front entrance to
courtyards with nearly 3,000 of their world famous
Poinsettias.
- Sony Corporation
made a large donation of Holiday Dιcor that filled our house
with the wonder of a life-size Santa sleigh, larger than life
snowmen and more.
- Dominic and Angelo
Pizarro, two, very
talented young men and brothers, entertained us with a holiday
piano concert in our Great Room. They plan to return for
additional engagements as well.
- American
Needlepoint Guild, San Diego
Chapter,http://www.sdang.org/Home.html,
generously donated a statuesque 8' tall Alaska Fir, lit with
1,000 lights & beautiful ornaments, many hand-stitched,
& then topped it with an exquisite angel, and wrapped the
bottom with a festive tree skirt. This tree sets the holiday
tone and greets everyone as they enter our Great Room.
- Rosner, Brown,
Touchstone & Keller, LLP
pooled their holiday spirit to donate gift cards for our
holiday needs, as well as plenty of dry goods for our pantry. Click here to
see our Holiday and Pantry wish lists.
- The gang at MyOffice http://www.myofficefacilitysolutions.com/
assembled 20 beautiful holiday gift baskets with gift cards
for local stores, and other usable items for the families who
will be here during the holidays. Click here
to see more info on making welcome kits, which are used year
round.
- IKEA
http://www.ikea.com/
spread the holiday spirit by reserving live Christmas Trees to
share with charities around San Diego. Ronald McDonald House
got a call from Rachel Reyes, of IKEA Marketing, to let us
know that about 40 trees were heading our way. As is the case
when we sometimes receive an abundance of gifts, we share them
with other children's charities. So we dressed up a staff
person as Santa and delivered a number of them around town to
groups such as Bayside Community Center and the Boys and Girls
Club. We were also able to put a tree in the homes of some of
our volunteers who might have gone without a tree, to show our
gratitude for their countless hours of service to our
families.
- Sometimes donations offered to us need to
be picked up, so we are very thankful for our four volunteer
drivers, who cover San Diego County from the border to
Oceanside: Monday - Fred Calalang, Tuesday - Vincent Geiger,
Wednesday - Laura Pederson, and Thursday - John Kudela. Just
let us know if you have that need.
Click here to
visit our website for more info on volunteering, or contact Suzanne
Nguyen at 858-598-2430 or snguyen@rmhcsd.org.
more...
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 It's
a coaching job this burly football coach never expected to take on:
"coaching" his tiny newborn son in the most important plays
of his life. That's what San Marcos physical education teacher and
coach, Roger DiCarlo, and his wife Nicole are doing in their daily
visits to the hospital. Students in Nicole's first grade class miss
their teacher-everyone wishes for some normalcy in their lives. Since
Travis' birth in late October, they've called the San Diego Ronald
McDonald House their "home away from home," just steps away
from Rady Children's Hospital.
Travis was
born with the left side of his heart severely underdeveloped. At two
months old, he's had his first open heart surgery and is making good
progress. The family is looking forward to the day he can come home
to San Marcos. Little Travis may not know it yet, but he has a
whole team of family, friends, schoolchildren and high school
students cheering for him. He's got the Ronald McDonald House
cheering for him too-with staff and volunteers doing all they can to
take care of the basics for Nicole and Roger so they can care for
Travis.
"We
really feel so lucky to have a place like the Ronald McDonald House.
The staff and volunteers have made us feel so comfortable as we are
going through the most difficult time in our lives. It
is so nice to be able to focus on Travis' care
and not worry about a place to sleep or getting a warm
meal."
The House
helps keep Travis' parents strong so they can deal with the many
challenges and focus on the good things, like their beautiful
"lil Bug." Read more stories like the Di Carlo's at our new
website www.rmhcsd.org
more...
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Thousands of lives affected
 2009 was a year in which we can
all be proud. Thanks to the support of our generous donors,
partners, volunteers, and the community of San Diego we made the
momentous move into our new 47 bedroom Ronald McDonald House (watch a video of the
grand opening). We closed the doors to our wonderful
12 bedroom House of 29 years just down the street and opened the
doors to a much expanded home away from home. In those 29 years
we housed over 14,000 families.
Since our move this summer, we have brought a whole new array of
services to families with children in the hospital who utilize our
facility. Our new Family Care Center
provides new services that allow our families to relieve stress, keep
connected, play with their children, or just reflect on a long
day. From our basketball court and workout room to our computer
room and chapel we are supporting families more than ever.
We have provided a room to stay for nearly 800 families in
2009. Our other services have been utlized by over 13,000
family visitors from nearby hospitals. More than 1,500 dinners
have been served by our amazing volunteers, who have donated nearly
30,000 hours to the Ronald McDonald House this year!
In 2010 we expect to help 20,000 families in our new House. We
are open 365 days a year, because we know that there are no days off
when a parent is caring for their child.
Thank you for making a difference in the lives of thousands of
families in 2009. Please make a donation, volunteer, leave a legacy gift in
your will, name a room, cook a dinner,
or do whatever you can to help us
continue these vital services throughout 2010.
more...
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 In October, the gavel passed from
outgoing Board Chairperson, Allan Kodicek, to our
new incoming Board Chairperson, Tim Malott, who will
serve in this capacity for the next two years. Allan will now take on
a new position as Immediate Past Chairperson for a two-year term as
well. Both Trustees have witnessed the tremendous growth of Ronald
McDonald House Charities of San Diego from its earliest days, and
along the way have become prominent historians of the 30-year story
of the San Diego House.
Allan has been affiliated with RMHC-SD for over nine
years. He is the Controller of Sutherland Management Company, a
10-unit McDonald's restaurant franchise organization, and has been in
this position for more than 25 years.
Tim joined the RMHC-SD family in its early years as an
officer of Ronald McDonald Children Charities, facilitating the
merger with San Diegans Against Childhood Cancer, which became Ronald
McDonald House Charities of San Diego, Inc. He is a Partner at Shoreline
Partners, LLC. Since joining Shoreline in 1994, he has led a variety
of client sale and acquisition assignments, with particular expertise
in negotiating, structuring and closing transactions.
2010 will be an Olympic year for our Global family.
Under Tim's leadership, and Allan's guidance, the Board of Trustees
is moving into a new chapter with its own Olympic tasks, to sustain
its new 47-bedroom House and continue to meet an ever-growing need in
the community. The vision going forward for the Board, staff and the
many volunteers at the House is to take care of families so they can
take care of their kids.
Our other Executive Committee members are:
Vice Chairperson - Wendy Newman, VP,
Marketing, AMN Healthcare
Treasurer/Finance Chair - Frank Ruyak,
Chairman, Cannon General Insurance Services,
LLC
Secretary - Dustin Smith, Account
Supervisor, Davis Elen Advertising
Audit Chair - Mike Miller, C-Level
Executive
Board Governance Chair - Janice Patterson,
SVP, Professional Services Manager, City National Bank
Development Chair - Doug Dawson,
Executive Director, Ellen Browning Scripps
Foundation
House Operations Chair - Jeff Payne,
Director of Business Development, Galaxie Defense Marketing
Services
Our remaining Members at Large are:
Carlos Arroyo, VP, Community District Manager 6, Wells Fargo
Bank
Carol Clark, Community Leader
Maylette Garces, Executive Director of Marketing Services,
Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino
Ben Hourani, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Sharp Chula Vista
Medical Center
Britta Justesen, Regional Director, World Wildlife Fund
Daniel Klunk, Financial Advisor, UBS Financial Services
Peter Middleton, Owner/Broker, Middelton & Associates
Bill Roberts, MD, Director Hematology/Oncology &
Ambulatory Services, Rady Children's Hospital & Health Center
Jerry Siegel, President, Peartrees Catering
Jamie Straza, Owner/Operator, Imajine, Inc. (McDonald
Restaurants)
Ed Wallace, VP, Community Affairs & Sony USA Foundation,
Sony Electronics, Inc.
Kory Wardle, Manager, Staffing, Qualcomm
more...
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Ronald McDonald House Charities of San
Diego
Daniel Sinton, Director of Development
2929 Children's Way, San Diego, California, 92123, United States
email: dsinton@rmhcsd.org | phone:
858-467-4750 | fax: 858-467-4757
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