Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeast Kansas provides crucial support to families whose children need medical care, functioning as a home away from home where families can stay at no cost while remaining close to their hospitalized children. Their historic house offers eight private guest bedrooms, meals, transportation, and emotional support for families during difficult times.
• Supporting primarily families with newborns in neonatal intensive care, assisting approximately 100 families annually
• Housing families for as long as needed - their longest stay last year was 150 nights
• Providing all services at absolutely no cost to families already facing medical expenses
• Hosting their biggest fundraiser, the Viva Las Vegas Gala, on August 23rd with a goal of raising $160,000
• Offering multiple ways for people to help: collecting pop tabs, linking Dillon's Plus cards, shopping their Amazon wishlist, or rounding up at McDonald's
Visit rmhcneks.org for more information about the organization or to purchase gala tickets. Sponsorships for the event range from $250 to $5,000, and they welcome auction item donations until August 1st.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMCF Community Hour as heardon NewsRadio KMAN.
Welcome back on a Mondaymorning.
The GMCF Community Hour here onNewsRadio KMAN is brought to
you by the Greater ManhattanCommunity Foundation.
(00:21):
We've got our fingers at a lotof things, and you can always
find out more about the work ofthe foundation at our website is
mcfksorg.
Our next guest is here onbehalf of the Ronald McDonald
House Charities of NortheastKansas.
She is the Director of BusinessOperations.
Let's welcome April Sidesinger.
Good morning, april.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We're delighted to have you here and we get you in,
I think, once a year here onthe program to talk about your
big fundraiser of the year, andwe're delighted to have you here
to talk about a big gala comingup.
But before we do that, whydon't you give us just a brief
elevator speech on what theRonald McDonald House of
(01:05):
Charities does?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, so brief elevator speech.
We are here to support familiesthat have a child that's
receiving medical care, whetherthat child is here for a day
appointment or for a longer stayin the hospital.
We are here to support thosefamilies, providing housing or
any items that they may need andbe a home away from home.
(01:27):
Of course, we also providesupport to mothers that are
going through high-riskpregnancy or families that are
going through adoption.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You are based in Topeka.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yes, we are.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
What is your area of coverage?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
We are in Northeast Kansas, so kind of anybody that
needs care that is transferredinto the Stormont Vale or St
Francis Hospital or coming toTopeka for a day appointment.
We support those families.
They do have to live outside ofTopeka city limits to be able
to use our house, but NortheastKansas is our basis.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So you provide support for those families that
have a kiddo that's got to getsome medical care.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, so primarily our families.
Just the way it goes isneonatal families.
Those are primarily who wesupport, and so they are longer
stays because they have anewborn that is needing care.
They may have been born inTopeka, but they don't live in
Topeka, or they were transferredin for that additional care in
(02:38):
the NICU at the Stormont-Bale orSt Francis Hospital.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
April.
Do you have an idea ofapproximately how many families
you assist on a yearly basis?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Last year we assisted around 100 families.
I want to say it was a littleless, but that was last year's
number.
So around 100 families wereassisted and I would say about
95% of those families werefamilies with a newborn.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Okay, all right.
Well, thanks for doing thattype of work.
It's got to be rewarding forthese families, because they're
probably just scared to deathabout, you know, the possibility
of their child and receivingmedical care, and for some of
them, quite some time too.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yes, Last year our longest stay was 150 nights.
Their baby, I mean, she wasborn very early and they were
not from this area.
They had no family support andthey didn't know where they were
going to stay, so they wereable to provide that housing for
her.
Hot meals, they hadtransportation back and forth
(03:43):
from the hospital if they neededit and just a place to come
back and relax and be able to beclose to their child and not
worry about where their nextmeal was going to come from,
where they were going to staythat night and if they were
going to be close to thehospital.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, good that you're available to do that.
Now, one of the thingsassociated with any nonprofit is
an opportunity to raise money,and you have your biggest
fundraiser of the year coming up, and let's talk a bit about
what this is all about.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yes.
So the Viva Las Vegas Gala iscoming up on August 23rd, so get
ready for a get even an ElvisPresley in the crowd and it's a
(04:43):
fun night.
There's themed drinks, themedmeals and all the proceeds
raised go to supporting theRonald McDonald House.
Our goal this year is to raisearound $160,000.
That makes up 20% of our annualbudget, because 92% of our
annual budget is raised byfundraisers grants, individual
(05:06):
and corporate giving.
So this is our largestfundraiser and our most
important fundraiser to raiseour budget to run the house for
the year.
The other 8% of it is raisedthrough the McDonald's donation
boxes and other direct support.
92% of it is up to ourcommunity to support us.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Where do you have the gala?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It is going to be at Townside Towers here in Topeka,
Kansas.
They've hosted it the lastcouple of years.
It's a really fun night.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Sounds like fun.
I think I got a free schedulethat day.
I'm going to have to look intothat.
Let's talk about getting holdof tickets, and maybe we have a
listener who'd like to help as asponsor for the event.
What's that process like?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, so getting home tickets is pretty easy.
You can go to our website,which is wwwrmhcneksorg.
We have an events tab.
You just click on that.
Click on the Viva Las Vegasit's all colorful themed and
it'll direct you to ourGiveSmart website, which you can
purchase tickets.
They're $80 per ticket, but ifyou have a group of you coming,
(06:13):
you can purchase a table of 10for $750.
So that's a discount there, andthen if you're just wanting to
sponsor it as well as attend,you could sponsor it.
We have sponsorships startingat $250.
This title is beginner's luckand it has different levels, and
then we have tiers ranging upto $5,000 titled the all in
(06:35):
sponsorship.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
All in, that seems pretty appropriate.
It is a gala, you got a littleVegas thing.
You might as well throw somegood old gambling verbiage in
that Well done.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Oh yeah, we love a good theme.
We are all in with the theme.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
What are some of the auction items that you have?
And I know you're stillcollecting, so maybe somebody
has something they'd like topony up and provide for you.
Yeah, so Maybe somebody hassomething they'd like to pony up
and provide for you.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, so we are collecting We'd like to get
everything in by August 1st Someof the auction items we have
been lucky this year.
We have some beautiful jewelrypieces from some different
(07:23):
jewelers that have supported us,to even some of our live
auction items.
We're collecting auction itemsfor a trip to Las Vegas, with a
stay and events there tosupporting, you know, the Chiefs
and the Royals and gettingtickets to those games and some
local events.
And we even have a Children'syes Day where we're supporting
all the different zoos in Kansasand so kids families can go to
all these different zoos andsupport Kansas and have a Kids
(07:44):
yes Day.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
One of the big challenges and I'm just going to
speak off the cuff here aboutthis is because you are in
Topeka and you don't probablyget as much visibility in the
Manhattan area where we arebased here with the GMCF.
But what are some of the waysthat us outsiders or I guess
we're not really outsiders, butwe're in the perimeter of the
(08:08):
Ronald McDonald House charitieswhat are some ways we can get
involved and help out?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, it's as simple as collecting the pop tabs off
of your pop that you drink yoursparkling water.
Yep, collect your pop tabs,recycle those.
You can take them to your localcenter.
You don't have to take thedrive to Topeka to donate them.
You can take them to your localrecycling center and then have
them make the check out to theRonald McDonald House when
you're doing that collection.
(08:34):
Or if you have a Dillon's inyour area or you shop at
Dillon's, doing a Dillon's Pluscard and using our organization
code, it does donations off ofthat Dillon's Plus card straight
to us and just supports usthrough that way and also our
Amazon wishlist.
You can support us through ourAmazon wishlist, checking that
(08:55):
we update it weekly so you cansee what our biggest needs in
the house at time if you'relooking for a location to donate
to.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
What are some of the things you typically look for
when you create that list?
What goes into that process?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So we look at our biggest needs at the time.
So we do a weekly wish list onour Facebook and we post our
biggest needs and then we kindof mirror that off of our Amazon
wish list so we look maybe forsome deals that are going on in
Amazon right then or what we'reusing, so it can change by
season kind of what we're using.
(09:30):
You can say, in the fall wehave a lot of lawn care needs
because we run a house and ithas lawn needs, and so you'll
see more of like lawn care,trash bags or items that would
help us with yard work.
In the summertime it's a lotmore.
You'll see bottled water andfood items lots of breakfast
items are on there and cleaningsupplies, because we like to
(09:54):
keep the house as clean aspossible.
We disinfect daily multipletimes so that families feel
healthy here, so they don't takeanything to the hospital with
them, and so we run throughthose supplies quite a bit and
they're usually on our Amazonwish list.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And that may be one of the misnomers.
Here you actually have a housewhere these families get to stay
.
Give me a little description ofthat.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, so this is a historical house.
It was built in 1906.
It is beautiful.
If you are ever in the Topekaarea, one of my favorite things
is to give tours of our houseand to show off the history of
it.
It has eight guest bedrooms, sowe can house up to eight guest
families at a time, and they'reall different sizes.
(10:38):
They each have their ownprivate bathroom, but we are a
typical house.
We're in a residentialneighborhood and so it's very
quiet where we're at, and sothat gives peace to our families
.
They can go out to theplayground and play if they want
, but we function as a house.
We make meals for the familiesevery day.
The families can use ourkitchen and make their own meals
(10:59):
if they want.
There's a playroom for kids toplay at.
There's laundry for ourfamilies.
We try to provide anything thatthey would need.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Is there a cost actually for any of these
families if they are staying?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
there at the Ronald McDonald House there is no cost
for our families to stay with us?
None whatsoever.
We do a share a night programwhere you can donate to share a
night and support our families.
It is $25 a night to support afamily but we do not take any of
that cost to our families.
There is no cost whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
How many can you house at one time?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
We can house up to eight guest families at a time.
Different sizes, but, yes, eachone gets their own private
bedroom with private bath.
Different types of beds in eachroom.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
What a tremendous service you provide.
That is awesome.
Anything else you'd like toshare with us?
April, before we let you go.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh no, just reminding everybody.
Another great way to supportfrom afar is rounding up at
McDonald's.
When you're checking out withyour McDonald's order, make sure
you ask to round up.
All that change goes towardsthe Ronald McDonald House in
Northeast Kansas, if you're inthe in the northeast area, and
to reach out.
If you guys have any donationsfor the gala or want more
(12:17):
information about an antenna,we'd love to have you all right.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
the website again is r m h, c, n e k s.
That stands for ronald mcdonaldhouse charities of Northeast
Kansas, and you can also find alink on our GMCF website, which
is mcfksorg April Seidsinger,director of Business Operations
for the Ronald McDonald House inTopeka and serving all of
(12:43):
Northeast Kansas.
Thanks for joining us and goodluck with your gala on August
23rd.
Thank you luck with your gala onAugust 23rd.
Thank you.
Up next on the program, kayleeReynolds is a co-founder of
Homefront Heroes.
We've had them in before.
They do some great work for ourmilitary families and so we'll
talk about that when we returnon the GMCF Community Hour here
(13:04):
on News Radio KMAN.
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater
Manhattan Community Foundation.
In this episode we feature arecently broadcast segment of
the GMCF Community Hour as heardon NewsRadio KMAN.
Welcome back on a Mondaymorning.
The GMCF Community Hour here onNewsRadio KMAN is brought to
you by the Greater ManhattanCommunity Foundation.
(00:21):
We've got our fingers at a lotof things, and you can always
find out more about the work ofthe foundation at our website is
mcfksorg.
Our next guest is here onbehalf of the Ronald McDonald
House Charities of NortheastKansas.
She is the Director of BusinessOperations.
Let's welcome April Sidesinger.
Good morning, april.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Good morning.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
We're delighted to have you here and we get you in,
I think, once a year here onthe program to talk about your
big fundraiser of the year, andwe're delighted to have you here
to talk about a big gala comingup.
But before we do that, whydon't you give us just a brief
elevator speech on what theRonald McDonald House of
(01:05):
Charities does?
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, so brief elevator speech.
We are here to support familiesthat have a child that's
receiving medical care, whetherthat child is here for a day
appointment or for a longer stayin the hospital.
We are here to support thosefamilies, providing housing or
any items that they may need andbe a home away from home.
(01:27):
Of course, we also providesupport to mothers that are
going through high-riskpregnancy or families that are
going through adoption.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
You are based in Topeka.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Yes, we are.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
What is your area of coverage?
Speaker 2 (01:44):
We are in Northeast Kansas, so kind of anybody that
needs care that is transferredinto the Stormont Vale or St
Francis Hospital or coming toTopeka for a day appointment.
We support those families.
They do have to live outside ofTopeka city limits to be able
to use our house, but NortheastKansas is our basis.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
So you provide support for those families that
have a kiddo that's got to getsome medical care.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Yeah, so primarily our families.
Just the way it goes isneonatal families.
Those are primarily who wesupport, and so they are longer
stays because they have anewborn that is needing care.
They may have been born inTopeka, but they don't live in
Topeka, or they were transferredin for that additional care in
(02:38):
the NICU at the Stormont-Bale orSt Francis Hospital.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
April.
Do you have an idea ofapproximately how many families
you assist on a yearly basis?
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Last year we assisted around 100 families.
I want to say it was a littleless, but that was last year's
number.
So around 100 families wereassisted and I would say about
95% of those families werefamilies with a newborn.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Okay, all right.
Well, thanks for doing thattype of work.
It's got to be rewarding forthese families, because they're
probably just scared to deathabout, you know, the possibility
of their child and receivingmedical care, and for some of
them, quite some time too.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yes, Last year our longest stay was 150 nights.
Their baby, I mean, she wasborn very early and they were
not from this area.
They had no family support andthey didn't know where they were
going to stay, so they wereable to provide that housing for
her.
Hot meals, they hadtransportation back and forth
(03:43):
from the hospital if they neededit and just a place to come
back and relax and be able to beclose to their child and not
worry about where their nextmeal was going to come from,
where they were going to staythat night and if they were
going to be close to thehospital.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, good that you're available to do that.
Now, one of the thingsassociated with any nonprofit is
an opportunity to raise money,and you have your biggest
fundraiser of the year coming up, and let's talk a bit about
what this is all about.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yes.
So the Viva Las Vegas Gala iscoming up on August 23rd, so get
ready for a get even an ElvisPresley in the crowd and it's a
(04:43):
fun night.
There's themed drinks, themedmeals and all the proceeds
raised go to supporting theRonald McDonald House.
Our goal this year is to raisearound $160,000.
That makes up 20% of our annualbudget, because 92% of our
annual budget is raised byfundraisers grants, individual
(05:06):
and corporate giving.
So this is our largestfundraiser and our most
important fundraiser to raiseour budget to run the house for
the year.
The other 8% of it is raisedthrough the McDonald's donation
boxes and other direct support.
92% of it is up to ourcommunity to support us.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Where do you have the gala?
Speaker 2 (05:27):
It is going to be at Townside Towers here in Topeka,
Kansas.
They've hosted it the lastcouple of years.
It's a really fun night.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Sounds like fun.
I think I got a free schedulethat day.
I'm going to have to look intothat.
Let's talk about getting holdof tickets, and maybe we have a
listener who'd like to help as asponsor for the event.
What's that process like?
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Yeah, so getting home tickets is pretty easy.
You can go to our website,which is wwwrmhcneksorg.
We have an events tab.
You just click on that.
Click on the Viva Las Vegasit's all colorful themed and
it'll direct you to ourGiveSmart website, which you can
purchase tickets.
They're $80 per ticket, but ifyou have a group of you coming,
(06:13):
you can purchase a table of 10for $750.
So that's a discount there, andthen if you're just wanting to
sponsor it as well as attend,you could sponsor it.
We have sponsorships startingat $250.
This title is beginner's luckand it has different levels, and
then we have tiers ranging upto $5,000 titled the all in
(06:35):
sponsorship.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
All in, that seems pretty appropriate.
It is a gala, you got a littleVegas thing.
You might as well throw somegood old gambling verbiage in
that Well done.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Oh yeah, we love a good theme.
We are all in with the theme.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
What are some of the auction items that you have?
And I know you're stillcollecting, so maybe somebody
has something they'd like topony up and provide for you.
Yeah, so Maybe somebody hassomething they'd like to pony up
and provide for you.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah, so we are collecting We'd like to get
everything in by August 1st Someof the auction items we have
been lucky this year.
We have some beautiful jewelrypieces from some different
(07:23):
jewelers that have supported us,to even some of our live
auction items.
We're collecting auction itemsfor a trip to Las Vegas, with a
stay and events there tosupporting, you know, the Chiefs
and the Royals and gettingtickets to those games and some
local events.
And we even have a Children'syes Day where we're supporting
all the different zoos in Kansasand so kids families can go to
all these different zoos andsupport Kansas and have a Kids
(07:44):
yes Day.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
One of the big challenges and I'm just going to
speak off the cuff here aboutthis is because you are in
Topeka and you don't probablyget as much visibility in the
Manhattan area where we arebased here with the GMCF.
But what are some of the waysthat us outsiders or I guess
we're not really outsiders, butwe're in the perimeter of the
(08:08):
Ronald McDonald House charitieswhat are some ways we can get
involved and help out?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Yeah, it's as simple as collecting the pop tabs off
of your pop that you drink yoursparkling water.
Yep, collect your pop tabs,recycle those.
You can take them to your localcenter.
You don't have to take thedrive to Topeka to donate them.
You can take them to your localrecycling center and then have
them make the check out to theRonald McDonald House when
you're doing that collection.
(08:34):
Or if you have a Dillon's inyour area or you shop at
Dillon's, doing a Dillon's Pluscard and using our organization
code, it does donations off ofthat Dillon's Plus card straight
to us and just supports usthrough that way and also our
Amazon wishlist.
You can support us through ourAmazon wishlist, checking that
(08:55):
we update it weekly so you cansee what our biggest needs in
the house at time if you'relooking for a location to donate
to.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
What are some of the things you typically look for
when you create that list?
What goes into that process?
Speaker 2 (09:09):
So we look at our biggest needs at the time.
So we do a weekly wish list onour Facebook and we post our
biggest needs and then we kindof mirror that off of our Amazon
wish list so we look maybe forsome deals that are going on in
Amazon right then or what we'reusing, so it can change by
season kind of what we're using.
(09:30):
You can say, in the fall wehave a lot of lawn care needs
because we run a house and ithas lawn needs, and so you'll
see more of like lawn care,trash bags or items that would
help us with yard work.
In the summertime it's a lotmore.
You'll see bottled water andfood items lots of breakfast
items are on there and cleaningsupplies, because we like to
(09:54):
keep the house as clean aspossible.
We disinfect daily multipletimes so that families feel
healthy here, so they don't takeanything to the hospital with
them, and so we run throughthose supplies quite a bit and
they're usually on our Amazonwish list.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
And that may be one of the misnomers.
Here you actually have a housewhere these families get to stay
.
Give me a little description ofthat.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Yeah, so this is a historical house.
It was built in 1906.
It is beautiful.
If you are ever in the Topekaarea, one of my favorite things
is to give tours of our houseand to show off the history of
it.
It has eight guest bedrooms, sowe can house up to eight guest
families at a time, and they'reall different sizes.
(10:38):
They each have their ownprivate bathroom, but we are a
typical house.
We're in a residentialneighborhood and so it's very
quiet where we're at, and sothat gives peace to our families
.
They can go out to theplayground and play if they want
, but we function as a house.
We make meals for the familiesevery day.
The families can use ourkitchen and make their own meals
(10:59):
if they want.
There's a playroom for kids toplay at.
There's laundry for ourfamilies.
We try to provide anything thatthey would need.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Is there a cost actually for any of these
families if they are staying?
Speaker 2 (11:16):
there at the Ronald McDonald House there is no cost
for our families to stay with us?
None whatsoever.
We do a share a night programwhere you can donate to share a
night and support our families.
It is $25 a night to support afamily but we do not take any of
that cost to our families.
There is no cost whatsoever.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
How many can you house at one time?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
We can house up to eight guest families at a time.
Different sizes, but, yes, eachone gets their own private
bedroom with private bath.
Different types of beds in eachroom.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
What a tremendous service you provide.
That is awesome.
Anything else you'd like toshare with us?
April, before we let you go.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Oh no, just reminding everybody.
Another great way to supportfrom afar is rounding up at
McDonald's.
When you're checking out withyour McDonald's order, make sure
you ask to round up.
All that change goes towardsthe Ronald McDonald House in
Northeast Kansas, if you're inthe in the northeast area, and
to reach out.
If you guys have any donationsfor the gala or want more
(12:17):
information about an antenna,we'd love to have you all right.
Speaker 1 (12:20):
the website again is r m h, c, n e k s.
That stands for ronald mcdonaldhouse charities of Northeast
Kansas, and you can also find alink on our GMCF website, which
is mcfksorg April Seidsinger,director of Business Operations
for the Ronald McDonald House inTopeka and serving all of
(12:43):
Northeast Kansas.
Thanks for joining us and goodluck with your gala on August
23rd.
Thank you luck with your gala onAugust 23rd.
Thank you.
Up next on the program, kayleeReynolds is a co-founder of
Homefront Heroes.
We've had them in before.
They do some great work for ourmilitary families and so we'll
talk about that when we returnon the GMCF Community Hour here
(13:04):
on News Radio KMAN.
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