Good, you’re still here.  Last week I was back working with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicago-Northern Indiana on their countdown to the opening of the world’s largest Ronald McDonald House.  We were lucky enough to secure the services of America’s favorite clown to help us out with day 50 in front of the flagship “Rock ‘n Roll” Mcdonald’s store downtown.  The owner operators of that location Ralph and Marilyn Wright are huge supporters of RMH-CNI, along with many of their colleagues within the ranks of McDonald’s franchise owner/operators.  In fact, the very first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia was opened with the support of the local owner/operators.

To find out how you can help support the countdown as well as the mission of RMH-CNI, please visit their site at www.Ronaldhousechicago.org

81 days to go and today’s Ronald McDonald House countdown features Michelle Hittenmiller, the head pastry chef at Molly’s Cupcakes in Chicago. Depsite the fact that her t-shirt says she doesn’t like to share, Michelle is a generous supporter of the current Ronald McDonald House near Children’s Memorial Hospital, often donating her ridiculously tasty cupcake creations to the House kitchen.  Since the new House in near the Lurie Children’s Hospital will have more than 4 times the capacity of the current House, Michelle might need to invest in a bigger oven and increase her sprinkle capacity!

Well it’s actually already begun.  A few weeks ago I spent a day photographing a variety of subjects to help Ronald McDonald Charities of Chicago/Northern Indiana countdown the final 86 days (there are 86 rooms in the new House) leading up to the opening of the world’s largest Ronald McDonald House.

Today the countdown features 6 year old House guest Ethan, who flew all the way from Alaska to stay in the House.  To learn more about the new Ronald McDonald House and Ronald McDonald House charities, and see the other faces who are helping to count down to the grand opening, check out the countdown site at www.rmhccni.org/86daycountdown

One feature of all the rooms at the houses is a journal, which families staying at the house are encouraged to write in during their stay.  At first I thought it was just a neat little touch that the House offers, and a cool way to have people say nice things about their stay.   But reading through some of the entries, you really see how important the mission of the Ronald McDonald Houses is.  Once you’ve read the words of a mother writing about sitting next to the bed as her 3 year old child passes away, talking about the process she’s going through and how she’ll move on……you’ll find it in your heart to support this incredible organization.

If you’d like to schedule a tour of the model rooms which is on display at the Ronald McDonald House near Loyola Medical Center in Maywood, please contact Jaime Haberkorn at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Chicago and Northern Indiana at (630) 623-5533

For those of you who don’t know, Flashes of Hope is a non-profit organization dedicated to to changing the way children with cancer and other life threatening illnesses see themselves through the gift of portrait photography.  Every month in hospitals around the country, volunteer makeup artists and photographers come together to help hospitalized children feel better about their changing appearances by celebrating it with a full portrait photography experience.

To learn more about Flashes of Hope, to make a donation, or to find out how you can help as a volunteer, please visit www.flashesofhope.org. The work I’ve done for ‘Flashes is some of the most challenging I’ve ever come across, but it’s also the most rewarding.  If pediatric medicine and care hold a place in your heart the way they do in mine, you owe it to yourself to support this incredible organization.

Yesterday I donated an afternoon of my time to offer 20 minute mini family portrait sessions in order to benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities capital campaign.  My wife, Amy, is a memeber of the RMH auxilary board, so it didn’t take a lot of arm twisting to talk me into this one.  All the session fees and a percentage of the portrait art sales from these 20 minute mini session will go directly to Ronald McDonald house charities capital campaign which helps fund the new Ronald McDonald house being built in conjunction with the new Chicago’s Children’s Memorial Hospital.

There’s a very good chance I’ll offer these benefit mini sessions sometime in the spring, so if you’re interested, please shoot me an email and we’ll let you know when the sessions are being offered!  Thanks again to all the families to participated on Sunday!