Kansas City Spotlight: Ronald McDonald House Charities

Kansas City Mom Collective is highlighting select local non-profit organizations that serve Kansas City’s moms and children.

This installment features the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City, an organization dedicated to “keeping families close” while their children are in the hospital or receiving treatment in the area. Families often travel long distances for their children to receive top-notch medical care at Children’s Mercy, and the three full Ronald McDonald Houses near the hospital campus provide comfortable rooms, meals, and amenities for them.

Additionally, Ronald McDonald House Family Room provides meals, snacks, showers, laundry, and quiet sleeping spaces for families without even having to leave the hospital. These rooms are available not only at Children’s Mercy, but at Overland Park Regional Medical Center as well.

As the mother of a son with multiple disabilities, we are no strangers to the hospital life and have stayed at two other Houses in other cities. We’ve also had wonderful meals at the local family room, and were later able to involve our children in a successful “snack drive” collecting heat-and-eat meals and snacks for families.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, RMHC-KC never stopped serving. For the last two years, they have had to do things a little differently to keep everyone safe. They provided socially distant hotel rooms for families as well as individually packaged meals, but are now back to more normal operations!

I had the opportunity to chat with Tami Greenberg, CEO of RMH-KC and ask a few questions about their role in Kansas City and vision for the future.

Tami began our interview by saying she always tells families, “I’m sorry your family needs to be here, but I’m delighted we can provide service and love. This is a place where sad things sometimes happen, but it’s not a sad place!” As someone who has utilized their services, I could not agree more — this amazing organization is a light in the darkness for so many families in need.

What is new and exciting for the Ronald McDonald House in Kansas City?

We just opened a new RMH Family Room in Overland Park and now have 91 rooms available total in the metro area! There are four rooms inside Overland Park Regional Medical Center and seven inside Children’s Mercy where families can stay so they don’t have to be far from their child.

We also recently opened an on-site salon for parents going through the stress of a sick child. The salon does everything from provide basic haircuts to giving massages to pamper stressed parents a bit. We also provide wigs for children with hair loss. We also added a new trained therapy dog to our team, Benson! He provides cuddles and laughs to kids and parents alike.

Can you explain what you do with pop tabs? I see collection sites all over — how do they benefit you?

Bring them to the house. The Longfellow House location has a drop box right out front you can drive up to. We partner with a recycling company and get money back from them! It’s an easy thing kids can do and helps promote awareness in the community.

Where do you see the Houses in five years?

Growth growth growth! We have seen more families using our services every month in 2022. We are currently actively engaged in a comprehensive assessment process to figure out what our families need most going forward. An example of this is work-from-home spaces — with COVID, many families are interested in quiet workspaces and improved connectivity to maintain employment while their child is in the hospital.

How can kids in the community help?

There are lots of great ways to get kids involved! We have groups of volunteers come in to make a home-cooked meal nightly. Kids can join in that process as well and help with the planning, cooking, and clean-up!

Volunteering “away from us” is another great way to involve your kids. They can collect items for snack bags or toiletry kits and help assemble and deliver them. These items are critical to the smooth operation of our houses.

What is the best way for our community to support you?

There are lots of great opportunities to support RMHC-KC as a family coming up!

• Happy Meals for the House fundraiser is coming up! From April 18-22, 10% of Happy Meals purchased in the Kansas City area go directly to RMHC.
• You can also round up your order when purchasing at any McDonald’s restaurant! Your few cents really add up to make a huge difference.
• Red Friday Chiefs Flags will be coming back the Friday before the first Chiefs game 2022! For $5, you can purchase a festive Chiefs flag at any area McDonald’s with proceeds benefiting the house.
• We regularly update our Wish Lists with Amazon and Target — you don’t even have to leave your house to order items we need to continue running.