Thursday, June 1; 4:30 ppm - 7:30pm
Volunteering at Ronald McDonald House
Ages: 13 and up (no toddlers or younger siblings please!)
Ronald McDonald House (350 Erkenbrecher Ave, next to Children's Hospital)
Organized by: Hannah Riesenberg and Sarah Leland
Why: Because it is FUN!

Through the youth group at our old church we learned about this wonderful volunteer opportunity at Ronald McDonald House. What our group would do is prepare dinner for the house (approximately 50 to 60 guests). This month we will be providing an All American Cook-out! Each participant will bring items for the meal (see menu below!). We cook the food (either on site or brought already made from home) for families staying at Ronald McDonald house. It is unbelievable how much fun it is cooking in the big kitchen (5 ovens, 5 microwaves, 5 sinks, 5 dishwashers) and how rewarding it is to serve the guests of Ronald McDonald House. Typically, if there is enough food left over, the volunteers eat dinner once the houseguests are finished. After dinner is over, we clean up, put the leftovers away, load the diswashers and head home!

If you are interested in joining us, please email Laura at theriesenbergs@cinci.rr.com to express your interest. Deanne Leland and Laura Riesenberg will accompany the kids (we can talk about carpooling, etc when we know how many kids are coming). Moms (or dads) are welcome to join us, we just ask that no toddlers or younger siblings come as the house often has kids over from the hospital and the last thing we want is to make anyone sick with a flurry of germs!

If you would like to help out, but can't come down and prepare dinner, we will gladly accept your donations of food! Email Laura at theriesenbergs@cinci.rr.com to let her know you want to send in food and we will work out arrangements to get it from you.

If the teens decide this is an activity they enjoy (Sarah and Hannah both really enjoyed it) they will be able to return the first Thursday of each month through October ( July 6, August 3, September 7)

For those of you unfamiliar with Ronald McDonald House check out their website at www.rmhcincinnati.org

SVP: Laura, Hannah and Brett Riesenberg, Sarah and Deanne Leland, Shanda S., Marian B. (Shanda's mom), Jessie J., Josh C., Eppings (3).

Menu:
Hamburgers: 36 patties
Hamburgers: 36 patties
Hotdogs: 40 hotdogs
brats: 18 bratts
metts: 18 metts
macaroni salad: 2-9x13 pans
potato salad: 2 gallons (consider buying from GFS)
baked beans:
devilled eggs: 4 dozen
Coleslaw: 5 lbs
Red seedless grapes: 5 lbs
Pasta Salad:
corn on the cob: 2 dozen ears/ shucked and washed
corn on the cob: 2 dozen ears/ shucked and washed
meat fixins: 6 large tomatos, 3 onions, 2 heads lettuce
sweet pickle relish: 1-12.7 oz squeeze bottle
sliced american cheese: 72 slices ($3.96 at Sams)
hamburger buns: 72 buns
hotdog buns: 80 buns
ketchup: 1-36 oz bottle
hamburger dill chip pickles: 1-32 oz jar
mustard: 1 large bottle
brownies:
Rice Krispie Treats: 2-9x13 pans
cookies: 3 dozen "break and bake" cookies

Since I end up using my blog as my brain half the time, I had to post the menu here.

What a great afternoon. Everything went so smoothly once we got down to the house and started the meal. I was THRILLED to see that one of the families send the DAD with them so I had someone that was experienced with grilling. Not don't get me wrong, but I really feel that most men are better with a grill than most women.

The house was full and the line was pretty steady from about 6 PM to 6:45 PM and then the volunteers sat down and ate. We must have been much more chatty than usual, because it was close to 8 by the time we finished cleaning up. The staff at the front desk said they love it when our group comes down because the food is always good and we clean up so well.....we don't leave burnt pots in the sink or big measuring cups full of grease on the counters (2 things that greeted us when we walked in).

I think we will do a BBQ next month. Hopefully we can get more people interested in sending in food. I am honestly amazed that we have so few families participating (although I wouldn't trade them for the world). There are 5 families that consistantly come down each month and another 5 families that send food, but you would think in a group of over 100 families that more people would extend their hands and offer to help with the expense. I guess people have different priorities.