Well, actually, Kent (our CEO) is on vacation this week, but I (Jan) am writing this post for him because we wanted to let you in on one of his projects. While on vacation, in addition to driving around in his fun car and getting a February tan, and in addition to playing the piano and working on his deck and in his garden, he has been doing some painting. He is working on a painting for the Bandana Ball auction.

Kent’s newest painting

While the actual Bandana Ball painting may be somewhat smaller than the one pictured here, it will be much like this one, and if you are there, you will have the opportunity to bid on it!

Kent's painting above Beverly's desk

Kent loves to paint – and obviously has a great talent for it! We are excited that his painting in the Bandana Ball auction will help raise much-needed funds to help us continue to provide a comfortable place for families when their children are hospitalized.

So, buy your Bandana Ball tickets today, and get ready to bid! And the next time you see Kent, tell him thanks for sharing his awesome talents!

Jan Gunter

Kent's painting in his office at the Ronald McDonald House

Kent's painting above the second floor conference table

Yep, that's where it hurts the very most!

It’s not often you hear that sentence uttered with such glee.  But I’m truly happy to be having surgery on Wednesday morning to “get my foot fixed.”

I’ve had problems with plantar fasciitis in my feet before, and it’s gotten progressively worse in my right foot over the last few months.  None of the treatments lately have helped, so I’m taking the big step (pun intended) of having it surgically taken care of.  I’m tired of being in pain.

Once I’m fully conscious again, I’m supposed to be walking at least 5 minutes out of every hour for the first day.  So it’s supposed to be a quick recovery.

It’s “just” an outpatient procedure, done endoscopically, and I’ll be under conscious sedation.  And it’s being done at a surgery center close to my home.  But that doesn’t mean I’m not nervous about it, and worried about what recovery will really be like.  Heck, if they’re going to be giving me pain meds, it’s not going to be a walk in the park! (again, pun intended)

But I’m thankful that my wonderful husband, Tony, will be there seeing me through this all.  From getting me there at 5:30 am, to waiting while I’m having it done, to getting me home and taking care of me afterwards…he’ll be there for all of it.  And I’ll be very grateful.  And I know how lucky I am to have his loving support as well as that of friends nearby.

When you search for a photo of "happy feet," this is about all you find!

The Ronald McDonald House provides a place for families to stay so they can be close to their children while they go through their procedures and treatments.  Not that I’m as young as those kids, but I can imagine how relieved and comforted they are having their parents nearby when they’re going through something similar.

I’m glad to be a part of helping them feel better and hope I can continue doing so soon without limping around so much to do it!

by: Ann Jerome

Well, the time has come for me to test my mettle. I ran my last “easy” run yesterday before the nice long one I will take as part of the Livestrong Austin Half-Marathon this Sunday, February 19^th with 20,000 of my new running buddies. While I always have the children like Nicholas who is 4 and is battling Leukemia, and Raymond who is 17 and battling a very rare cancer of the muscles who stay with us at the Ronald McDonald House in my heart and mind when I run, this year there’s someone else I’m also focused on to make the miles even more personal.  

Linda Morris, my RMHC colleague at the Atlanta RMHC Chapter, is battling Stage 2 breast cancer with once-a-week chemo treatments, surgery soon, and then radiation treatments that will end later this year.  It’s a tough regimen and she is working hard to balance her personal and professional responsibilities – handling them all with poise and grace.

Meanwhile, she is also continuing to keep up her Crossfit workouts going with her trainer and friend Eric in Decatur, Georgia to win this war.  She actually makes me tired telling me about what she’s doing to make sure she remains strong and focused on her overall health.

Linda is a wonderful leader in the world of Ronald McDonald House Charities, and through this battle she remains determined and positive.  So, I wanted to do something different with my fundraising that would inspire me when I’m running the course, make a difference for the children we serve at the Austin (and Atlanta) Ronald McDonald Houses, and  honor Linda’s strength and courage.

 Check out Eric & Linda’s great photo on my fundraising page! http://rmhc-austin.kintera.org/teamronald/annjerome2012

Please consider supporting my efforts – and Linda too – by making a donation to my Team Ronald page. This time around the funds that are so generously donated will benefit the families who rely on the Ronald McDonald Houses in Austin and Atlanta.   

Thank you for keeping up with the happenings at the Austin Ronald McDonald House and Family Rooms. We love knowing you’re paying attention to us and running alongside us supporting the children and families we serve every day of the year! 

And, one final shout out of  thanks to the Team 26 for 26 volunteers who will be all along the route this Sunday making sure the water stops are rolling and the course is safe.  Over 100 RMHC Austin volunteers will be at Water Stop 4 – can’t wait to see them!!!

by Jan Gunter

Today is Valentine’s Day, and we are joining Sasha Dichter at the Accumen Fund in rebooting Valentine’s Day as Generosity Day – a day as Sasha said, of “sharing love with everyone, of being generous to everyone, to see how it feels and to practice saying ‘Yes.’ Let’s make the day about love, action and human connection–because we can do better than smarmy greeting cards, overpriced roses, and stressed-out couples trying to create romantic meals on the fly.”

Generosity Day

So we’re helping to reboot Valentine’s Day as Generosity Day; a day when we all do something, anything, to be more generous in spirit and action.

Today we can leave big tips, smile at everyone we meet, hold the door open, be generous, and see how it feels to practice saying, “Yes”. Today we can participate in the local Share the Love promotion and donate $1 at McDonald’s to support RMHC familes. Join in the Twitter conversation with #generosityday, and share your ideas and experiments in generosity with us on our Facebook page.

And with that in mind, I am sharing here with you today some wonderful notes of gratitude from our families who, over the course of time, have experienced kindness, generosity, caring and smiles here at the Ronald McDonald House and Ronald McDonald Family Rooms.

• “Words are inadequate to express our gratitude for the services recently extended to our family….Your facilities are awesome and your staff so kind and helpful. We appreciate all that you did for us and for all those who come through your doors.”
  

  Alpha Delta Pi sisters support our families all year long!

• “I do not know what is wrong with my son. But it is people like you who keep me strong. This is my second stay within the last month, yet your attitude of hope and care transmits over to my heart and strength.”
• “Gracias a todos los que hacen posible esta gran bendicion.”
• “Thank you for your kind words and open hearts in a times that is life impacting to us”.

Happy Generosity Day to you – pass it on! How will you say “Yes” to Generosity Day?

Select one of the following that best describes you and write your answer in the Comments section below:

a. I am addicted to Pinterest.
b. I’ve looked at Pinterest, but haven’t done much with it.
c. I’ve heard of Pinterest, but don’t know what the big deal is.
d. Pinte-What??

Being the social media mavens that we are, we have taken a Ronald McDonald House plunge into the world of Pinterest. Today I decided it’s like visual Twitter. It is growing at a faster pace than any of the other platforms have grown - yes that is stunning!

Please check out our Pinterst page, and let us know what you think. We are posting images from our events, images of our House and Family Rooms, links to family stories and more. Here’s our House and Family Rooms page:

Our RMHC Austin page is part of the RMHC global page, so by looking at our boards, you will run across photos of Ronald McDonald Houses around the world, and families who have found a home away from home in many cities where their children were receiving pediatric medical care.

That’s what’s new over here this week. Well, at least from my perspective!

Remember to post your answer to the question in the Comments section below! We’d love to hear from you.

by Derrick Lesnau

Did anybody happen to catch this past Sunday’s football game?  If not, then you missed a heckuva football game.  That was the only good aspect of the Superbowl though.  It always amazes me how there are so many other aspects to Superbowl Sunday that have nothing to do with actual football.  Like Jan referenced in her most recent post [(Psst.) We have SUPER news], the majority of us share a fascination and interest in all those other aspects like the commercials and halftime shows.  I’ve even heard of superbowl parties that solely focus on the commercials and halftime show.

Except, of course, for the Ronald McDonald House Charities Commercial, this year’s commercials were a big disappointment in my opinion.  Why couldn’t they have learned from a Golden Girl and her candy?  And remaining consistent with the recent trend, the halftime show consisted of some washed-up musician (time to hang it up, Material Girl) looking for their last 15 minutes of fame forced to share the stage with current pop-stars who are pouting because they weren’t the headliner.  And of course, there’s always at least 1 ambitious “musician” (enter MIA) who thinks they can make a name for themselves by doing something outlandish in hopes that the next morning’s water cooler chatter will be about them instead of……wait for it……the actual football game.  It made me realize the focus has become centered on the entire spectacle of Superbowl Weekend instead of the battle between 2 talented teams looking to win it all and claim the right to be called Champions.  I guess with all the hub-bub surrounding the final game of the NFL season, it’s easy to lose focus of the football game itself. 

At times, it can also be easy to lose focus of what’s important here at the Ronald McDonald House.  Whenever appliances break down or we experience technical difficulties with our database or website or whatever else goes wrong throughout the day, it’s easy to focus on these peripheral issues and lose sight of our main purpose:  Providing a supportive and comfortable environment for RMHC guests during their children’s medical care.  Everything else is expensive commercials and wardrobe “malfunctioning” halftime shows.

-Derrick

UPDATE: Click here to see the RMHC Super Bowl Ad discussed below.

When it comes to the Super Bowl, I’m a commercial lover. This year we are seeing more of the commercials in advance, and even trailers that are getting us geared up for the commercials. Have you seen The Bark Side? It’s the VW trailer with the dogs barking the theme song of the Imperial March from Star Wars. More than 11 million people have watched it on You Tube, and I (along with a bunch of other people) love it.

But I digress. What I REALLY want you to know is that if you watch before the game between 5:00 and 5:20 CST, you will see an RMHC commercial about a little guy named Anastacio and his fight with cancer. Anastacio’s support system included the staff and volunteers of the Ronald McDonald House . . . and it also includes you! Here’s more about this amazing boy and the commercial you can watch before the big game on Sunday.

One month from now, I’ll be running the Livestrong Austin Half-Marathon to represent and support our newest initiative “Team Ronald.”  I’ve had a great time training with my new running buddies and meeting every Saturday morning at Town Lake to tackle a longer distance than the week before as we get ourselves ready for February 19th. What makes this race preparation different from the ones I’ve done before is that this is the first time I’ve made the commitment to run with a group – to meet up with someone who’s counting on me to be there each Saturday morning to help each other get through the distance. So far, I think I’ve done pretty well and have only missed two sessions – not bad.

I’ve met some great people in the Team 26 for 26 training group led by Ray Mechler. There is a solid core group and we all represent and support some wonderful Austin charities. There are three of us who are running for Team Ronald and I must say – we are doing a great job. Last week, Marie and I ran 11 miles, Rick ran even farther – it was cold, it was dark, we were tired and we ended up completing it at the fastest pace either of us had ever run consistently – wow!!!

RMHC-Austin will also be supporting Water Stop #4 on the day of the race, and we’re looking for volunteers who are interested in getting up bright and early on February 19^th to support all of the runners who are going the distance to help the Livestrong Foundation and the 26 Austin Charities represented at each mile. We’re lucky to be so early in the route – our shift is from 5:30am to 9:30am – and the runners will still be energetic enough to pass through pretty quickly.

The Marathon organizers have a fancy system for tracking the volunteers. Please use this link, select our group name from the drop down menu then enter our password to sign up to volunteer:  SELECT RONALD McDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES (BE CAREFUL TO SELECT THE CORRECT ONE AS THERE ARE MANY LISTED)  Password: 26

As the weeks wind down and we get ready to face the race day, I find myself looking forward to each Saturday and wondering what will be the next challenge after this half-marathon. Marie is up for anything and I think there may be more athletic endeavors ahead for us – perhaps some of the new Team Ronald suggestions like the Great Urban Race in April,  Keep Austin Weird 5K in June, or maybe even the newly branded Texas Tri-Series on Labor Day. Any upcoming event is fair game for a Team Ronald entry so…. check out our RMHC-Austin website http://www.rmhc-austin.org/teamronald  and stay tuned!

I miss my daily dose of these two!

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions.  I found it too frustrating when I couldn’t keep them for more than a few minutes, it seemed.  So instead I try to keep to something a little less drastic.  According to Dictionary.com, one meaning of “resolve” is “to come to a determination; to make up one’s mind.”  Based on that, I resolve to do something every day, and I bet you do, too.  Maybe it’s simply getting out of bed in the morning!

Ah, the possibilities!

Every day, I resolve to do something to help someone else.  That could simply be to answer a question or hold a door open.  Seems pretty simple, right?  Why not?  In my job, my major resolve is to keep up with my email and keep volunteers coming through our doors. And overall, that helps the families we serve.

I think that all of us here at the Ronald McDonald House share the same resolve.  And I mean staff members and volunteers alike.  Our resolve is to provide a safe, clean, comforting home away from home for the families who need us, so they can be with their children who need them.  Our Family Rooms help provide that kind of support as well.

It doesn’t take a big resolution to get all of this done, but it does take the many daily kind acts of many folks working together – our staff, our volunteers and our donors.  Thanks to everyone who helps make what we do possible.  And to all who make it easy for me to keep my resolve each day!

Do YOU have a resolution for this year?  Please share it by leaving a comment below. 

Now, if you have a few extra minutes, click on and watch this short video.  You never know how much a small act of kindness you provide might mean to someone each day and this illustrates the concept beautifully.

Happy 2012, everyone!

West Point Society

By Beverly Seffel

Yesterday I spent the lunch hour with a very special group of men.  These men were all members of the West Point Society.  They had all served or are serving in the Army.  There was one veteran from WWII in attendance.  All of these men had in some form experienced tours on foreign soil, fighting on the fronts, extended periods of time from family and loved ones.  I was there to share with them what services Ronald McDonald House Charities provides and specifically how the House and Family Rooms serve military families.  Seventy-one military families have walked through our doors from cities near Fort Hood such as Killeen, Harker Heights, and Copperas Cove.  Some of our military families come from San Antonio, but no matter where they come from we always make them feel at home.  It makes us proud to do something for these families who sacrifice so much for us.  I know that in the years to come, we will continue to support our troops in every way we can. 

Thanks to the West Point Society of Central Texas for allowing us to share our story with you and for all your military service to our country.