The Seattle Thunderbirds are well-known for their support of local charity work. One of the team’s favorite charities is none other than the Ronald McDonald House Charities, a very special organization that helps families with babies or young children in the hospital stay close to their families.

 Parents with children who have rare diseases or babies born very prematurely often have to travel to hospitals hundreds or even thousands of miles from home, and the RMH gives them a home away from home. Families have access to a computer, a library of books and games, breast milk pumping machines, shared bathrooms, their own refrigerator sections and a laundry facility at the House. Families who stay there also do chores each week to pitch in, and oftentimes a shuttle is available to take them to the hospital to visit their children daily. The Seattle House offers a temporary home to about 700 families annually.

The Thunderbirds have helped the Seattle Ronald McDonald House in multiple ways. They have provided meals for families at the house, staying to dine with the families and play with the children staying at the house. The kids really look up to the players and have fun, as you can see in one of their visit videos. They have hosted a Hockey Challenge to raise money for the charity, raising over $190,000 for the Seattle House at the event, hosted at the ShoWare Center. Sponsors raise money to pick hockey teams to play during the Hockey Challenge, making the fundraiser a fun activity for fans as well as a helpful one for the charity. In October, the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Western Washington and Alaska (RMHC) honored the team at their 27th Annual RMHC Gala auction, raising millions of dollars for the charity.

You can get involved by finding your local Ronald McDonald House and contacting them to find out what they need. Many houses allow adults to volunteer to cook meals for families living at the home. Houses often accept food donations as well as monetary ones to help provide water, electricity, beds, blankets and even television to the families. One penny per Happy Meal funds the start-up costs for the houses, but they run on generous donations from the people of the community. Even by dropping change into the RMH boxes at local McDonald’s stores, you are helping the organization fund homes away from home for thousands of people each year while their children get the medical treatment they need.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia