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!