Ronald’s Rescue is one of the newest service organizations at Padua Academy. Led by Mr. Sheehan, the group works to contribute time and funds to Ronald McDonald House. Mr. Sheehan admitted, “I actually did not come up with any of this. This was proposed to me by two Juniors, Monica Twardowski and Sam Scarpone, in the beginning of August.”
Mr. Sheehan encourages Padua girls to give as many soda tabs as they can to the club’s contribution because Ronald McDonald House can use the resulting funds for “utilities, upkeep, or anywhere they are missing things and need money. Most of the functions of the house are run through volunteer work and donations.” He continued, saying, ” I think the woman told me the last time that we were there that 10% of their budget comes from the actual foundation. So they really have to do all the fundraising and volunteering by themselves, like each individual house. So something small like a few cents here and there form a bottle cap really does build up if the community can get involved.” Many people fail to realize that most of the volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House have to do all the fundraising and volunteering on their own. Hopefully, everyone can catch the passion that Mr. Sheehan feels about helping the Ronald McDonald House because, as he said, “I’m pumped about the tabs! We are maybe a fifth of the way through that big 32 gallon trash can.” Mr. Sheehan concluded that bringing in even 30 or 100 tabs helps considerably. Think about it: 30 tabs coming from every kid in this school would amount to an enormous donation.
Monica Twardowski and Sam Scarpone truly conceived the whole idea. Sam said that Monica called her wanting to start an activity at Padua. After thinking about different organizations in need of help, the girls remembered seeing a commercial for Ronald McDonald House. The girls agreed that helping the Ronald McDonald House would be a perfect use of their time and effort and decided to ask Mr. Sheehan for help. They are both thrilled with how the Padua community is responding to the soda tab project and are very proud of their sisters’ generosity. They have more than one thousand tabs so far thanks to their sisters at Padua. Monica and Sam are leaders of the Ronald’s Rescue activity and are the ones who direct the activities to benefit the Ronald McDonald House.
Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) is an organization whose mission is to create, find and support programs that directly improve the health and well being of children throughout the world. It has a global network in 52 countries with three core programs. The programs are:
- the Ronald McDonald House
- the Ronald McDonald Family Room
- the Ronald McDonald Care Mobile
There are currently 305 Ronald McDonald Houses spread over 52 countries and regions. These houses act as a home away from home so that sick children can remain near their families, and they supply families with a variety of provisions and services. For instance, Ronald McDonald houses have nearly 7,200 bedrooms for families of sick children. In addition, there are currently 161 Family Rooms accommodating over 3,000 families throughout 19 different countries and regions. Family Rooms provide an essential place for family members to rest, wash clothes, take a shower, or nap near their child’s hospital or care center. Another invaluable service is Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles, mobile clinics that offer affordable health care for children in their own neighborhoods. This program saves families in the U.S. $10 million in medical and dental costs each year. There are currently 43 Care Mobiles in 6 countries. One rare, but beneficial, program is the Ronald McDonald Learning Program, which is only located in Australia. It was formed in 1997 to help children who have suffered serious illness and returned to school. The mission stated that the program was to provide educational support to sick children who had fallen behind in their education. The Ronald McDonald Learning Program supplies student with:
- A Cognitive and Educational assessment by an Educational Psychologist
- 40 hours of individual tutoring by a qualified teacher
- 10 sessions of Speech or Occupational Therapy (only if required)
There are a numerous ways that people can donate to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. For instance, RMHC Donation Boxes are located in most McDonald’s restaurants. Everyone is encouraged to donate as much as they can to these boxes with the knowledge that their pledge will go directly to the RMHC. Additionally, Padua participates in one of RMHC’s programs called the Pop Tab Program. Participating individuals, businesses, and schools collect soda tabs from aluminum cans and donate them to their local Ronald McDonald House Charity.
If you would like to help donate to the Ronald McDonald House, you can put soda tabs in the red and yellow trash bin in the Cafeteria. You can also go to this website http://rmhc.org/how-you-can-help/donate/ and donate funds to the Ronald McDonald House Charity. The Ronald McDonald House and the girls of Ronald’s Rescue appreciate all of your donations and support.
