September 29, 2025 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow visits with first time guests President & CEO for RMH of DC Kimberly Wolf – and Vice President of Community Engagement Kirill Reznik to talk about the upcoming the 15th Annual Red Shoe 5k Sunday, October 5, 2025 and all the incredible things that Ronald McDonald House of DC does for familes in our region.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome to
the show for the first time guest president and CEO
for Ronald McDonald House of d C, Kimberly Wolf and
Vice President of Community Engagement Coril Resnic, to talk about
the upcoming fifteenth annual Red Shoe five k on Sunday,
October fifth. In the next thirty minutes, you're going to
learn all about the special things that Ronald McDonald House
(00:25):
of DC do and it's going to blow your mind
how they change families' lives with your help. Here's my
conversation with Kimberly and Carill. I hope you enjoyed as
much as I did. Good morning, Kimberly, Good morning Dennis. Well,
it's great to have you on the show for the
first time ever in the four years that I've done
the program, and welcome aboard to Community DC. And there
is so much to talk about, and I think, you know,
I would love to educate our listeners and myself a
(00:47):
little bit, even though I've done my research Kimberly about
Ronald McDonald House, because everybody's heard of it and they
wonder you know what. I think they know what they do.
But we're going to get into the weeds on it.
But let's start with the history because I think it
goes back to Philadelphia in nineteen seventy four and where
it all started, and then DC was short after that.
But tell us about the history of Ronald McDonald House.
(01:07):
How it all happened.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So Ronald McDonald House was co founded by doctor Audrey Evans.
Doctor Evans was a leading pediatric oncologist at chop the
Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, and she saw a real need
for families who were not only from the local community,
(01:30):
but coming from all around the country to receive care.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
For a place to stay.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Quite frankly, she was first and foremost concerned about the
entire family being impacted by childhood or pediatric illness or injury.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And she worked with the local.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Community, including the Eagles in Philadelphia, to buy a property
very close to the High Hospital, and that really began
what is now a system that operates in sixty two
countries and has.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Over a thousand programs. So it is all credited.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I would say to this compassionate, feisty pediatric oncologist, doctor
Audrey Evans, and I would like to make a little
plug for her. We lost doctor Evans a few years ago,
but there is a major motion picture that's out that's
available on a lot of the streaming services. It's called
(02:33):
Audrey's Children, and it really doesn't a remarkable job of
telling the story of not only her legacy, but Ronald
McDonald House.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
The origin of Ronald McDonald House.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, I'm glad that you shared that. I'm going to
check that out, so thank you for sharing the history.
And then DC was a little bit later, right in
nineteen eighty. I think they got kind of built things there.
Can you talk a little bit about DC and what
they did.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Absolutely, So we have two houses, one in Northern Virginia
and one in DC. The first house was established in DC,
very close to the campus of Children's National Hospital. So
what we discovered was it just wasn't enough, and so
we now have a second house located on the campus
(03:17):
of Fairfax and Nova in Northern Virginia.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Between the two houses.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
We have fifty six rooms, and part of that is
due to an expansion we had in twenty twenty. We
were on really long waiting lists, quite frankly and exceeding
what the occupational capacity was for both houses, and so
we expanded to the fifty six rooms that we have today,
and in the last year or so we've been able
(03:44):
to support more families than ever before.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, let's do this because you're starting to talk about
but if we could get a little clarity from you,
what mission and vision is for Ronald McDonald House. What
would you tell our listeners that it.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Is absolutely thank you Ronald McDonald House.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We work to remove barriers to strengthen families and promote healing.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
We believe that when a child experience is a.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Critical illness or injury, it just shakes the foundation of
the entire family.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
We are here to help.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We make sure families don't have to worry about anything
related to accommodation, food, transportation back and forth from the house,
to medical programs, and what we really aim to do.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
There are a couple things we aim to do.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
We really try to provide comfort and community and a
home away from home, and we try to make sure
that our families don't have to worry about anything else
except being present with their loved one during this really
critical time.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, it's a real extraordinary thing that you and your
team do and if you could give us an example.
So I think people really enjoy real world examples, whether
it affects them or not, about how the process works. So,
if there is a family that's the need of Ronald mcdoun,
how does the whole process work from soup to nuts?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Okay? So families can request to stay.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They are referred through hospital social workers and case workers,
and we work in partnership with twenty two medical centers
around the Greater Washington DC area. Once they are referred,
we match the availability and provide the housing, transportation and
food at no cost. It's designed to be seamless for
(05:28):
these families. We believe famies shouldn't have to worry about
those logistics while they're navigating medical treatment.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
How are you funded?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
We are supported by the community, quite frankly, the listeners
of this broadcast. Our community includes donors, volunteers. We had
over three thousand volunteers come out and work beside us
last year, and our sponsors, and of course our flagship
event for bringing the community out each year is our
(05:58):
Red Shee five k happening in October fifth in National Harbor.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And we're going to talk with your community Engagement director
Cariill and just a little bit and chat more about
the specifics of that on October fifth, coming up at
National Harbor, which is very exciting on that Sunday. And
I want to stick with the volunteering a little bit
because I know that's a real big deal and we
should tell people and there once again on the website,
and you can give the website several times if you
like kimberly An individual groups and the wishless of care kits,
(06:24):
can you just go into that just a little bit
deeper for us.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Absolutely, we have opportunities for everything that you just described.
We have a feed the House program where community organizations, corporations, individuals,
families come in and create a meal for families that
are staying in the house. The care kits are another opportunity.
Many people work offsite when they're doing that in large
(06:51):
groups and then bring them to the house or we
go pick up the care kits. There are opportunities to
do programming in the house, to come as a guest
reader to the house, opportunities for a landscape, just really
truly everything that it requires to keep the houses up
(07:11):
and running.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
All right, let's give the website right now because there's
a big, fat or redeed donation button in the top
right on corner with a little heart. And then we're
going to go into a little bit deeper about ways
to give. But what's the website for everybody?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Great?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's www RMHCDC dot org.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So as you can imagine Kimberly on this program. Over
the four years that I've hosted, and I've talked to
a lot of different nonprofits that have come with really
ingenious ways to give, and I went on the page
as I was getting ready for the interesting. My goodness,
there are handfuls of ways that people can donate and give,
and you don't need to go through all of them
because people can head to the website. But it's extraordinary.
(07:49):
You guys have thought of just about everything. Can you
go through a few of them.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
The community can support us in numerous ways, everything from
an outright cash contribution, which is wonderful. Those contributions go
to the areas of greatest need for our families. Gifts
in kind, which are contributions the community can.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Make very easily. On Amazon.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
We have a weekly wish list that we post and
that's practical needs of the family members, anything from paper supplies,
food products, personal toiletry items. Diapers are something that we
have a great need for in the houses.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So there are.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Many ways that the community can engage. There are more
sophisticated ways to give that include gifts of appreciated stock,
gifts of real estate. We have a program for the
donation of used automobiles. So truly we have a lot
of breadth in the ways that the community can support our.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Work without any assumptions. Kimberly, I imagine that there are
some really outstanding and incredible relationships with hospitals, doctors, nurses,
caregivers or first responders. It's all the people that you
work with, and I hope you could talk a little
bit about that because they're all important people with what
they do, and I imagine you get to know some
of them personally. But you know, relationships, especially in your
(09:10):
business of what you do and cultivating and networking or
a really big deal, aren't they Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Absolutely, we work really closely with the medical community. Again,
the referral process begins with them, but we also have
representation from some of our medical our big medical partners
on our board of directors. We work with the local
fire department, police officers.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Police officers will actually.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Come into the house and program, so they may be
doing an art project with some of the siblings or
the kids that are staying in the house.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
They're always a big hit.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Children love to look up to our first responders and
in our community we are really well supported by them.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
And then we have all kinds.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Of opportunities for other kinds of support in the house.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
So we have a whole referral process.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
If it's not something that we're doing directly in support
of our families, we know where to guide them, where
to send them for what it is they may need.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Can you give us a little data and I won't
to hold you specifically to any numbers, but when it
comes to families or people that you have come coming through,
I don't know if you have up to date to
twenty twenty five, but what's the data look like of
how many families do you support?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Absolutely so, historically, since nineteen eighty when we were founded,
we have provided over three hundred thousand nights of rest
for families. Sixty eight percent of those families are local.
You can imagine, particularly with our relationship with Children's National
we have families coming from all around the globe quite frankly,
to stay with us so that they have access to
(10:44):
that level of care.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
One in four of.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Our families are active duty or retired military. I think
that's an interesting community.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
That we support and that we care for.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Our average length of stay is about twenty nine nights,
and we've worked with a local economic advising firm to
really get into the data about how much economic relief
we provide to our families on average for a twenty
nine night's day, that equates to about savings for families
(11:18):
of fifty five hundred dollars wow, in tranmation, accommodation and food.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It's extraordinary numbers to where it's different makers in people's
lives to whether they would be in debt forever. Kimberly,
as to what you guys do on your team, it's incredible, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Absolutely, And in this year, just this year alone, we've
provided over eleven thousand rides to and from medical appointments
from the house. We've, as I mentioned earlier, engaged the
community over thirty five hundred. I said three thousand earlier,
but in fact current numbers are thirty five hundred volunteers
and as I mentioned, we're working with the greater medical
(11:57):
community in Washington, d C.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Over twenty two of those medical partnership.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Very good, Kimberly. I'm going to put a pin in
our conversation you just for a second, because as we tease,
we're going to talk about the Red Shoe five K
at National Harbor on Sunday, October fifth, and we're going
to do that with career Resneki is, of course, the
community engagement director. So we're going to do that right
now and then we'll get right back to you. Well, carell,
we teased it enough. We have to talk finally about
the Red Shoe five K that's coming out very exciting,
(12:22):
and you know, the one thing before you talk about
what's going to be happening on Sunday, October fifth at
National Harbor is this is I believe, if I did
my math correctly, fifteen years, which is cool. I love
how anything lasts as long as it does, and you
guys have really built up a tradition. So tell us
all about it, about what it is and how people
can get involved in it.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Sounds good. Thank you, Dennison, thanks for having both of
us on. You know, the Redshue five K as you said,
has been going on now for fifteen years. This is
actually going to be our third year at National Harbor,
and it is built up into a great event. Is
our signature event every year. It brings together runners, walkers, volunteers, sponsors, donors,
(13:05):
our board members, and the greater community all into one
location for one great morning to celebrate what we do
at Ronald McDonald House. And we take care of families
who are taking care of their kids. And that is
the most noble thing that I have done in my
thirty plus year career in Washington, DC. And so it's
going to be a great event. We're going to have
(13:26):
hundreds of runners out. We're giving folks options of they
can run, they can walk, so we have a five
k run, we have a one mile walk option. If
folks don't want to run or walk, they want to
come out and volunteer, they can register to do that
as well. And frankly, up until the last minute, we're
still taking sponsors, individual in corporate. We'd love to have
(13:47):
folks join our community and come out and join us
for this great event.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And of course on your wonderful website, which we've mentioned
several times in our interview so far, and we're going
to do that at the end for everybody to make
sure you've devoted a whole page. This of the things
you've talked about about registering and donation and sponsors and
volunteering are all on there. So why don't we just
get a little bit more granular and tell everybody how
they can register in the website and what they get
and how much everything cost.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Absolutely, So if if you go to red Shoe five
k dot org, so we actually have, you can get
there through our regular website r mh DC dot org.
Or you can go directly to Redshoe five k dot
org and and register that way. If you want to
walk or run, we will have you can. You can register.
(14:37):
It's about fifty dollars to come and register for the event.
If you have a group ten or more, you get
a discount off that. We'd love to see more and
more people come out, So we want to encourage the
groups to come out, whether it's your you know, your
your employer's group, or you know your your business, or
your church group or your PTA or anybody else that
(14:58):
you can gather into a large group to come out.
You can come out and register We also have the
option to register your kids. We have a fun run
that'll start about thirty minutes before the actual race starts.
It's about a two hundred yard dash for the kids.
I'm sorry that two hundred meter dash for the kids,
not yards. That's a lot and it's a lot of fun.
(15:22):
And the kids get a cape and they'll get the
same finisher medals that all of our five k runners
and walkers get. So you can get on the website,
register and make a great donation. I will also pitch.
And I don't encourage this because I want people to
come out. But if you can't make it out, but
you still want to make a contribution, you can even
sign up as what we call.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
A red Shoe snoozer.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Right, so you sign up, you pay your fifty bucks
as a donation to us, and then you spend you know,
Sunday mornings sleeping in. But and if that's an option
for you, if you can't run, you're not physically able
to do it, or you don't have the time, you know,
we obviously encourage you to still contribute to the organization.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
That's great advice and I don't think there's anything wrong
with doing the snooze. Just donating the little money is
really cool too.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
The last thing I want you to leave listeners with.
And I always talk to different nonprofits out there whoever
run or walk or just a get together of something.
We have to remind people that this is also when
it comes to Ronald McDonald House, all these families, it's
about fellowship and getting together and I think that's the
real cool thing that you probably see a lot too.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Absolutely so, in addition to all the walkers and runners
that come out because they are people who want to
support our organization, we will have a ton of who
we call our Forever Families, our Ronald McDonald House alumni,
coming out and they always come out as well. They
are there with their families, their kids, whether their families
(16:46):
whose kids stayed with us, or in some cases whether
it's parents who stayed with us when they were kids
and are continuing to support the organization. It is really
an opportunity, as you said, for fellowship, for all of
us to come out and enjoy the day. It'll be
probably I'm hoping a nice, cool but clear day and
(17:06):
enjoy the opportunity to support what is a great organization
that does incredible work in our community.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Outstanding, Carl. Thanks for joining us on Community DC just
for a few moments. We really appreciate it absolutely.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Kimberly, that was a great conversation about the Red Shee
five K fifteenth Annual. And it just sounds like such
a wonderful event. You know, I've heard about it for
many years, and I know what's well attended, it's well funded,
but it sounds like it keeps on getting better and
better every year. I'm sure you've been to many of them.
What's the experience like going to it?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
It's such a moment of quite frankly, it's the most fulfilling.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Event of the year.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It is this amazing, remarkable outpouring of love and support
for our families. Last year we had over nine hundred participants,
and Carell mentioned our forever families. I love that families
that have stayed with us come back to support current families.
And it's just this amazing morning where community is there
(18:07):
to support us, but more importantly, to support the families
that we serve.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
So I think this is a good segue and this
is one of the part of the favorite parts of
my show that we get to talk about some great stories.
And I'm sure you have handfuls and handfuls of life
changing stories for families, but is there something recently that's happened,
just maybe a few stories that you can share where
you said to yourself with Carill and the rest of
your team said, this is why we get up every day.
We made a real big difference here. Can you share
(18:33):
a story or two with us?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So. Very recently, we had a young nick you mom
only eighteen years old, with no support from friends or family.
She's stayed with us for one one hundred and eighty
three nights, my goodness, consecutively. She did travel between the
two houses based on the healthcare need, but as a mom,
(18:57):
she had no support. The staff at the houses work together.
They became her support system, working closely with her social worker,
her case worker, and we're able to really.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Address her various needs.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
As you can imagine a single young mom facing this
extraordinary circumstance in her life. But our goal, and I
hope we accomplished, was to be there alongside her every day,
not just during those difficult days, but to really celebrate
the triumphs throughout that process.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Maybe you could share something about leadership with us as
president and CEO, because one of the things when you
have a business, whether it's a profit or nonprofit, is
getting feedback and how to get better. And I imagine
that you know, you don't get to visit with every family,
so feedback is important whether things worked really well or
something needs to be tweaked a little bit. Can you
(19:52):
talk about getting that communication from families and how you
do get better at Ronald McDonald House.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Absolutely, from the very moment that families begin to work
with us through the end of the process, when they
check out, we are serving and asking what it is
we can do better to support them, how better to
create this community of love and support around them, and
how best to address the needs.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
That they have while they're staying in the house.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
We do that during the process. We do that during
their stay, and then after they've left us.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I know another thing that you do when you're leading
a nonprofit as president CEO, that is you're always looking
down the line about, well we can come up with this,
or here's another fundraiser, and once again, how to get better.
As you take a look at the future of Ronald
McDonald House and you talk to some of your peers
around the country, maybe around the world, what does the
future look like in the next two to five years,
about either what you're working on or what you're excited about.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So we're very focused on serving more families and serving
them better and what that means for us in our
chapter is opening programs to meet families where they are,
so not every family leaves hospital, and as a result
of that, we are creating in hospital programs called family rooms.
(21:10):
We're designing those to be a respite for families who
are in the hospital, just so they can get out
of that environment, even if it's for a few moments,
to be in a different environment during the chaos of
everything that's going on in the hospital. And we have
families who don't even want to leave bedside, so we've
(21:30):
created programs to meet them at bedside to support them
wherever they may be in this journey. As I mentioned,
not every family wants to leave the hospital, and so
we're expanding programs to meet them where they are.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Well, speaking of expansion, when it comes to a national
Ronald McDonald's house, how does the process work that Let's
do a hypothetical that if we wanted to build one
in Maryland, and you know you had the funding to
do that, and you had the land and all the
zoning stuff that goes with building a building or maybe
take and infrastructures over there and turning it into a
Ronald McDonald house. How does that all work? How does
(22:04):
the process work?
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Well?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
As you come out, I can imagine McDonald's is our
founding and forever partner, and we do share business best
practices with them. So opening a new house would be
a very strategic, well planned process, looking at everything from
what is the demand for support and service today and
(22:27):
what might that look like five, ten, fifteen years down
the road. So there is a very thorough process that
we go through in the way that we would consider
opening a house. But since you mentioned Maryland, I have
to give a shout out to the Maryland Chapter. We
actually have a house in Baltimore, and so I just
want your listeners to be aware of the great work
(22:48):
of that house as well.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
I appreciate that. And staying with that line of what
we're talking about, when it comes to maybe you meeting
your peers, is there an opportunity, whether it's an annual
thing or regular quarterly that you get together and share
ideas and see what this region's doing and then maybe
we can implement that as well.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
One of the things I share about this system, which
as I mentioned, operates around the globe, is that there
is such.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
A wealth of experience.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
And yes, as a CEO and other CEOs from around
the country, we get together annually and we do exactly
what you described. We share best practice, we share what
is working. We try to find common operational goals so
that we're all working toward the same kind of support.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
For our families. Although that looks different in every community.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I share with people that this is I have thirty
five years in the nonprofit sector. This system, this organization
is more apt to share best practice. I can pick
up the phone in any given day and call any
other chapter around the country and ask for help, guidance, suggestions,
(24:04):
and it's readily accessible and given to me.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I know you and I both know this. But you're
in one of the most important cities in the world,
and I don't know how much advocating you have to
do or go to Capitol Hill. But when it comes
to advocating and growing Ronald McDonald house, how does advocation work?
If there is any Yeah, it.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Is more community based.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I would say we're really more grassroots. It's the volunteers
that we work with, It's the community sport that support
that we get.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
It is the community that comes out for Red Shoe.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Five K Day, and that's really how we advocate on
behalf of our families.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
You know, you mentioned that Red Shoe five K is
just the biggest thing. But as you a look down
the line, is there anything that may be either another
region's doing or something that you're dreaming that with your team,
then maybe we could put something like this together one day.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, my big dream the Atlanta Chapter is currently opening
one hundred and twenty bedroom house WOW in partnership with
Children's Hospital there. As I mentioned, our occupancy rate exceeds
one hundred percent. We do have wait lists for our family.
So my big dream is to be able to support
and serve more families.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I want to twist back to donations and all the
ways to give and one of the things that people say, Dennis,
make sure that you asked this because I really would
like to donate, but I'd like to know where my
money's going. So with somebody who's donating towards the DC Chapter,
here and they make a donation, whether it's five dollars
or five thousand dollars, how is the money allocated Kimberly, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
So that goes to our operational budget and the money
is allocated to the areas of greatest needs. So you
can think about that from I mean, one of the
things I'd like to share is more than ever, families
are coming to us with food insecurity and so just
like the general public has experienced increases in the cost
of food, we do too.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
So support goes to all.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Those things I have discussed, the accommodations, the transportation, our
food program, and.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
The house the repair and maintenance of the houses themselves.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
So we program eighty over eighty five percent of every
dollar goes direct to program.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
You know, that's something that you just kind of jarred
my thinking as we were talking about this, is that
when you have a house, it's like anybody owning a
house is things are going to break down. So you
need people to fix those things. And I imagine you
have relationships there as well.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Absolutely we do.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
We work with vendors and contractors and again with companies.
Some of that sometimes is in kind gifts, right, it's
the talents or the expertise, it's actual construction, sometimes it's equipment,
and so all of that comes together under our umbrella
support and really helps us support server families.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
All right, Well, one last thing about donations before I
let you go, and we'll get some final thoughts from
you in the website one more time and remind everybody
once again about the fifteenth annual Rendshee five K Sunday,
October fifth at National Harbor. And that's when it comes
to there's always a lot of business leaders that listen
to this program, and there's small, medium, large businesses. If
(27:17):
they want to be partners with you, not just maybe
make a donation, but partners with you. What's the best
route to do that, So.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
That is to contact us directly.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
They can contact us through our website and I will
share that many companies have found that employee engagement is
really the intersection between what we do and the families
we support and their own business strategy. So that can
be recruitment, it can be retention of the employees, it
can be recognition about standing employees, and all of that
(27:49):
can happen in our house. So feed the house opportunity
for a company to come together with some of their
employees and volunteer and experience being in the community and
moving back is something that we provide.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
O't standing well, Kimberly, we only have a few minutes left,
so I want to give the website and if there's
any social channels that people can check out as well,
and just maybe some final thoughts from you from the
Red Shoe five K coming up and just what we've
talked about the floor is yours.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Absolutely, thanks so much so.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
In addition to registering for our Red Shoe five K,
obviously we'd love a donation, but just as important is
following us on social media channels. Share our posts, tell
our stories, help us spread the word. Understanding our work,
just understanding that we're here in the community and sharing
(28:38):
our story is really helpful and ultimately helps us in
fundraising as well.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
You can amplify our mission.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
It will help us serve more families and it will
help us find more donors in our progress to help
the families.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Well said, let's give the website just one more.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Time, okay.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
It is www dot MHCDC dot org or for the
Red Shoe five k's www Redshoe five k dot org.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
That's Danny Well. Kimberly give my best at Carill for
joining us to talk about the Red Shoe five K,
your team and what you're doing. It's just absolutely incredible
and I'm glad that iHeart can be a megaphone and
their partners with Ronald McDonald house. It's just extraordinary. We're
excited about it. What's coming up for you and I'm
glad that we could finally get you on a community
DC show.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much for the
time today.
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Good morning, and welcome to another edition of Community DC.
I'm your host Dennis Glasgow. This morning, we welcome to
the show for the first time guest president and CEO
for Ronald McDonald House of d C, Kimberly Wolf and
Vice President of Community Engagement Coril Resnic, to talk about
the upcoming fifteenth annual Red Shoe five k on Sunday,
October fifth. In the next thirty minutes, you're going to
learn all about the special things that Ronald McDonald House
(00:25):
of DC do and it's going to blow your mind
how they change families' lives with your help. Here's my
conversation with Kimberly and Carill. I hope you enjoyed as
much as I did. Good morning, Kimberly, Good morning Dennis. Well,
it's great to have you on the show for the
first time ever in the four years that I've done
the program, and welcome aboard to Community DC. And there
is so much to talk about, and I think, you know,
I would love to educate our listeners and myself a
(00:47):
little bit, even though I've done my research Kimberly about
Ronald McDonald House, because everybody's heard of it and they
wonder you know what. I think they know what they do.
But we're going to get into the weeds on it.
But let's start with the history because I think it
goes back to Philadelphia in nineteen seventy four and where
it all started, and then DC was short after that.
But tell us about the history of Ronald McDonald House.
(01:07):
How it all happened.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
So Ronald McDonald House was co founded by doctor Audrey Evans.
Doctor Evans was a leading pediatric oncologist at chop the
Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, and she saw a real need
for families who were not only from the local community,
(01:30):
but coming from all around the country to receive care.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
For a place to stay.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Quite frankly, she was first and foremost concerned about the
entire family being impacted by childhood or pediatric illness or injury.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And she worked with the local.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Community, including the Eagles in Philadelphia, to buy a property
very close to the High Hospital, and that really began
what is now a system that operates in sixty two
countries and has.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Over a thousand programs. So it is all credited.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
I would say to this compassionate, feisty pediatric oncologist, doctor
Audrey Evans, and I would like to make a little
plug for her. We lost doctor Evans a few years ago,
but there is a major motion picture that's out that's
available on a lot of the streaming services. It's called
(02:33):
Audrey's Children, and it really doesn't a remarkable job of
telling the story of not only her legacy, but Ronald
McDonald House.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
The origin of Ronald McDonald House.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Well, I'm glad that you shared that. I'm going to
check that out, so thank you for sharing the history.
And then DC was a little bit later, right in
nineteen eighty. I think they got kind of built things there.
Can you talk a little bit about DC and what
they did.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Absolutely, So we have two houses, one in Northern Virginia
and one in DC. The first house was established in DC,
very close to the campus of Children's National Hospital. So
what we discovered was it just wasn't enough, and so
we now have a second house located on the campus
(03:17):
of Fairfax and Nova in Northern Virginia.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Between the two houses.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
We have fifty six rooms, and part of that is
due to an expansion we had in twenty twenty. We
were on really long waiting lists, quite frankly and exceeding
what the occupational capacity was for both houses, and so
we expanded to the fifty six rooms that we have today,
and in the last year or so we've been able
(03:44):
to support more families than ever before.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Well, let's do this because you're starting to talk about
but if we could get a little clarity from you,
what mission and vision is for Ronald McDonald House. What
would you tell our listeners that it.
Speaker 3 (03:56):
Is absolutely thank you Ronald McDonald House.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
We work to remove barriers to strengthen families and promote healing.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
We believe that when a child experience is a.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
Critical illness or injury, it just shakes the foundation of
the entire family.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
We are here to help.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
We make sure families don't have to worry about anything
related to accommodation, food, transportation back and forth from the house,
to medical programs, and what we really aim to do.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
There are a couple things we aim to do.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
We really try to provide comfort and community and a
home away from home, and we try to make sure
that our families don't have to worry about anything else
except being present with their loved one during this really
critical time.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Well, it's a real extraordinary thing that you and your
team do and if you could give us an example.
So I think people really enjoy real world examples, whether
it affects them or not, about how the process works. So,
if there is a family that's the need of Ronald mcdoun,
how does the whole process work from soup to nuts?
Speaker 3 (05:03):
Okay? So families can request to stay.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
They are referred through hospital social workers and case workers,
and we work in partnership with twenty two medical centers
around the Greater Washington DC area. Once they are referred,
we match the availability and provide the housing, transportation and
food at no cost. It's designed to be seamless for
(05:28):
these families. We believe famies shouldn't have to worry about
those logistics while they're navigating medical treatment.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
How are you funded?
Speaker 2 (05:37):
We are supported by the community, quite frankly, the listeners
of this broadcast. Our community includes donors, volunteers. We had
over three thousand volunteers come out and work beside us
last year, and our sponsors, and of course our flagship
event for bringing the community out each year is our
(05:58):
Red Shee five k happening in October fifth in National Harbor.
Speaker 1 (06:02):
And we're going to talk with your community Engagement director
Cariill and just a little bit and chat more about
the specifics of that on October fifth, coming up at
National Harbor, which is very exciting on that Sunday. And
I want to stick with the volunteering a little bit
because I know that's a real big deal and we
should tell people and there once again on the website,
and you can give the website several times if you
like kimberly An individual groups and the wishless of care kits,
(06:24):
can you just go into that just a little bit
deeper for us.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
Absolutely, we have opportunities for everything that you just described.
We have a feed the House program where community organizations, corporations, individuals,
families come in and create a meal for families that
are staying in the house. The care kits are another opportunity.
Many people work offsite when they're doing that in large
(06:51):
groups and then bring them to the house or we
go pick up the care kits. There are opportunities to
do programming in the house, to come as a guest
reader to the house, opportunities for a landscape, just really
truly everything that it requires to keep the houses up
(07:11):
and running.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
All right, let's give the website right now because there's
a big, fat or redeed donation button in the top
right on corner with a little heart. And then we're
going to go into a little bit deeper about ways
to give. But what's the website for everybody?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Great?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
It's www RMHCDC dot org.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So as you can imagine Kimberly on this program. Over
the four years that I've hosted, and I've talked to
a lot of different nonprofits that have come with really
ingenious ways to give, and I went on the page
as I was getting ready for the interesting. My goodness,
there are handfuls of ways that people can donate and give,
and you don't need to go through all of them
because people can head to the website. But it's extraordinary.
(07:49):
You guys have thought of just about everything. Can you
go through a few of them.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
The community can support us in numerous ways, everything from
an outright cash contribution, which is wonderful. Those contributions go
to the areas of greatest need for our families. Gifts
in kind, which are contributions the community can.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
Make very easily. On Amazon.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
We have a weekly wish list that we post and
that's practical needs of the family members, anything from paper supplies,
food products, personal toiletry items. Diapers are something that we
have a great need for in the houses.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So there are.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Many ways that the community can engage. There are more
sophisticated ways to give that include gifts of appreciated stock,
gifts of real estate. We have a program for the
donation of used automobiles. So truly we have a lot
of breadth in the ways that the community can support our.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Work without any assumptions. Kimberly, I imagine that there are
some really outstanding and incredible relationships with hospitals, doctors, nurses,
caregivers or first responders. It's all the people that you
work with, and I hope you could talk a little
bit about that because they're all important people with what
they do, and I imagine you get to know some
of them personally. But you know, relationships, especially in your
(09:10):
business of what you do and cultivating and networking or
a really big deal, aren't they Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Absolutely, we work really closely with the medical community. Again,
the referral process begins with them, but we also have
representation from some of our medical our big medical partners
on our board of directors. We work with the local
fire department, police officers.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Police officers will actually.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Come into the house and program, so they may be
doing an art project with some of the siblings or
the kids that are staying in the house.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
They're always a big hit.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Children love to look up to our first responders and
in our community we are really well supported by them.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
And then we have all kinds.
Speaker 2 (09:53):
Of opportunities for other kinds of support in the house.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
So we have a whole referral process.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
If it's not something that we're doing directly in support
of our families, we know where to guide them, where
to send them for what it is they may need.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Can you give us a little data and I won't
to hold you specifically to any numbers, but when it
comes to families or people that you have come coming through,
I don't know if you have up to date to
twenty twenty five, but what's the data look like of
how many families do you support?
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Absolutely so, historically, since nineteen eighty when we were founded,
we have provided over three hundred thousand nights of rest
for families. Sixty eight percent of those families are local.
You can imagine, particularly with our relationship with Children's National
we have families coming from all around the globe quite frankly,
to stay with us so that they have access to
(10:44):
that level of care.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
One in four of.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Our families are active duty or retired military. I think
that's an interesting community.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
That we support and that we care for.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Our average length of stay is about twenty nine nights,
and we've worked with a local economic advising firm to
really get into the data about how much economic relief
we provide to our families on average for a twenty
nine night's day, that equates to about savings for families
(11:18):
of fifty five hundred dollars wow, in tranmation, accommodation and food.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
It's extraordinary numbers to where it's different makers in people's
lives to whether they would be in debt forever. Kimberly,
as to what you guys do on your team, it's incredible, absolutely, yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Absolutely, And in this year, just this year alone, we've
provided over eleven thousand rides to and from medical appointments
from the house. We've, as I mentioned earlier, engaged the
community over thirty five hundred. I said three thousand earlier,
but in fact current numbers are thirty five hundred volunteers
and as I mentioned, we're working with the greater medical
(11:57):
community in Washington, d C.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
Over twenty two of those medical partnership.
Speaker 1 (12:01):
Very good, Kimberly. I'm going to put a pin in
our conversation you just for a second, because as we tease,
we're going to talk about the Red Shoe five K
at National Harbor on Sunday, October fifth, and we're going
to do that with career Resneki is, of course, the
community engagement director. So we're going to do that right
now and then we'll get right back to you. Well, carell,
we teased it enough. We have to talk finally about
the Red Shoe five K that's coming out very exciting,
(12:22):
and you know, the one thing before you talk about
what's going to be happening on Sunday, October fifth at
National Harbor is this is I believe, if I did
my math correctly, fifteen years, which is cool. I love
how anything lasts as long as it does, and you
guys have really built up a tradition. So tell us
all about it, about what it is and how people
can get involved in it.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
Sounds good. Thank you, Dennison, thanks for having both of
us on. You know, the Redshue five K as you said,
has been going on now for fifteen years. This is
actually going to be our third year at National Harbor,
and it is built up into a great event. Is
our signature event every year. It brings together runners, walkers, volunteers, sponsors, donors,
(13:05):
our board members, and the greater community all into one
location for one great morning to celebrate what we do
at Ronald McDonald House. And we take care of families
who are taking care of their kids. And that is
the most noble thing that I have done in my
thirty plus year career in Washington, DC. And so it's
going to be a great event. We're going to have
(13:26):
hundreds of runners out. We're giving folks options of they
can run, they can walk, so we have a five
k run, we have a one mile walk option. If
folks don't want to run or walk, they want to
come out and volunteer, they can register to do that
as well. And frankly, up until the last minute, we're
still taking sponsors, individual in corporate. We'd love to have
(13:47):
folks join our community and come out and join us
for this great event.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And of course on your wonderful website, which we've mentioned
several times in our interview so far, and we're going
to do that at the end for everybody to make
sure you've devoted a whole page. This of the things
you've talked about about registering and donation and sponsors and
volunteering are all on there. So why don't we just
get a little bit more granular and tell everybody how
they can register in the website and what they get
and how much everything cost.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Absolutely, So if if you go to red Shoe five
k dot org, so we actually have, you can get
there through our regular website r mh DC dot org.
Or you can go directly to Redshoe five k dot
org and and register that way. If you want to
walk or run, we will have you can. You can register.
(14:37):
It's about fifty dollars to come and register for the event.
If you have a group ten or more, you get
a discount off that. We'd love to see more and
more people come out, So we want to encourage the
groups to come out, whether it's your you know, your
your employer's group, or you know your your business, or
your church group or your PTA or anybody else that
(14:58):
you can gather into a large group to come out.
You can come out and register We also have the
option to register your kids. We have a fun run
that'll start about thirty minutes before the actual race starts.
It's about a two hundred yard dash for the kids.
I'm sorry that two hundred meter dash for the kids,
not yards. That's a lot and it's a lot of fun.
(15:22):
And the kids get a cape and they'll get the
same finisher medals that all of our five k runners
and walkers get. So you can get on the website,
register and make a great donation. I will also pitch.
And I don't encourage this because I want people to
come out. But if you can't make it out, but
you still want to make a contribution, you can even
sign up as what we call.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
A red Shoe snoozer.
Speaker 4 (15:44):
Right, so you sign up, you pay your fifty bucks
as a donation to us, and then you spend you know,
Sunday mornings sleeping in. But and if that's an option
for you, if you can't run, you're not physically able
to do it, or you don't have the time, you know,
we obviously encourage you to still contribute to the organization.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
That's great advice and I don't think there's anything wrong
with doing the snooze. Just donating the little money is
really cool too.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You know.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
The last thing I want you to leave listeners with.
And I always talk to different nonprofits out there whoever
run or walk or just a get together of something.
We have to remind people that this is also when
it comes to Ronald McDonald House, all these families, it's
about fellowship and getting together and I think that's the
real cool thing that you probably see a lot too.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
Absolutely so, in addition to all the walkers and runners
that come out because they are people who want to
support our organization, we will have a ton of who
we call our Forever Families, our Ronald McDonald House alumni,
coming out and they always come out as well. They
are there with their families, their kids, whether their families
(16:46):
whose kids stayed with us, or in some cases whether
it's parents who stayed with us when they were kids
and are continuing to support the organization. It is really
an opportunity, as you said, for fellowship, for all of
us to come out and enjoy the day. It'll be
probably I'm hoping a nice, cool but clear day and
(17:06):
enjoy the opportunity to support what is a great organization
that does incredible work in our community.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Outstanding, Carl. Thanks for joining us on Community DC just
for a few moments. We really appreciate it absolutely.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
Kimberly, that was a great conversation about the Red Shee
five K fifteenth Annual. And it just sounds like such
a wonderful event. You know, I've heard about it for
many years, and I know what's well attended, it's well funded,
but it sounds like it keeps on getting better and
better every year. I'm sure you've been to many of them.
What's the experience like going to it?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
It's such a moment of quite frankly, it's the most fulfilling.
Speaker 3 (17:43):
Event of the year.
Speaker 2 (17:44):
It is this amazing, remarkable outpouring of love and support
for our families. Last year we had over nine hundred participants,
and Carell mentioned our forever families. I love that families
that have stayed with us come back to support current families.
And it's just this amazing morning where community is there
(18:07):
to support us, but more importantly, to support the families
that we serve.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
So I think this is a good segue and this
is one of the part of the favorite parts of
my show that we get to talk about some great stories.
And I'm sure you have handfuls and handfuls of life
changing stories for families, but is there something recently that's happened,
just maybe a few stories that you can share where
you said to yourself with Carill and the rest of
your team said, this is why we get up every day.
We made a real big difference here. Can you share
(18:33):
a story or two with us?
Speaker 3 (18:35):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So. Very recently, we had a young nick you mom
only eighteen years old, with no support from friends or family.
She's stayed with us for one one hundred and eighty
three nights, my goodness, consecutively. She did travel between the
two houses based on the healthcare need, but as a mom,
(18:57):
she had no support. The staff at the houses work together.
They became her support system, working closely with her social worker,
her case worker, and we're able to really.
Speaker 3 (19:09):
Address her various needs.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
As you can imagine a single young mom facing this
extraordinary circumstance in her life. But our goal, and I
hope we accomplished, was to be there alongside her every day,
not just during those difficult days, but to really celebrate
the triumphs throughout that process.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
Maybe you could share something about leadership with us as
president and CEO, because one of the things when you
have a business, whether it's a profit or nonprofit, is
getting feedback and how to get better. And I imagine
that you know, you don't get to visit with every family,
so feedback is important whether things worked really well or
something needs to be tweaked a little bit. Can you
(19:52):
talk about getting that communication from families and how you
do get better at Ronald McDonald House.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
Absolutely, from the very moment that families begin to work
with us through the end of the process, when they
check out, we are serving and asking what it is
we can do better to support them, how better to
create this community of love and support around them, and
how best to address the needs.
Speaker 3 (20:17):
That they have while they're staying in the house.
Speaker 2 (20:20):
We do that during the process. We do that during
their stay, and then after they've left us.
Speaker 1 (20:27):
I know another thing that you do when you're leading
a nonprofit as president CEO, that is you're always looking
down the line about, well we can come up with this,
or here's another fundraiser, and once again, how to get better.
As you take a look at the future of Ronald
McDonald House and you talk to some of your peers
around the country, maybe around the world, what does the
future look like in the next two to five years,
about either what you're working on or what you're excited about.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
So we're very focused on serving more families and serving
them better and what that means for us in our
chapter is opening programs to meet families where they are,
so not every family leaves hospital, and as a result
of that, we are creating in hospital programs called family rooms.
(21:10):
We're designing those to be a respite for families who
are in the hospital, just so they can get out
of that environment, even if it's for a few moments,
to be in a different environment during the chaos of
everything that's going on in the hospital. And we have
families who don't even want to leave bedside, so we've
(21:30):
created programs to meet them at bedside to support them
wherever they may be in this journey. As I mentioned,
not every family wants to leave the hospital, and so
we're expanding programs to meet them where they are.
Speaker 1 (21:44):
Well, speaking of expansion, when it comes to a national
Ronald McDonald's house, how does the process work that Let's
do a hypothetical that if we wanted to build one
in Maryland, and you know you had the funding to
do that, and you had the land and all the
zoning stuff that goes with building a building or maybe
take and infrastructures over there and turning it into a
Ronald McDonald house. How does that all work? How does
(22:04):
the process work?
Speaker 3 (22:06):
Well?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
As you come out, I can imagine McDonald's is our
founding and forever partner, and we do share business best
practices with them. So opening a new house would be
a very strategic, well planned process, looking at everything from
what is the demand for support and service today and
(22:27):
what might that look like five, ten, fifteen years down
the road. So there is a very thorough process that
we go through in the way that we would consider
opening a house. But since you mentioned Maryland, I have
to give a shout out to the Maryland Chapter. We
actually have a house in Baltimore, and so I just
want your listeners to be aware of the great work
(22:48):
of that house as well.
Speaker 1 (22:50):
I appreciate that. And staying with that line of what
we're talking about, when it comes to maybe you meeting
your peers, is there an opportunity, whether it's an annual
thing or regular quarterly that you get together and share
ideas and see what this region's doing and then maybe
we can implement that as well.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
Absolutely so.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
One of the things I share about this system, which
as I mentioned, operates around the globe, is that there
is such.
Speaker 3 (23:16):
A wealth of experience.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
And yes, as a CEO and other CEOs from around
the country, we get together annually and we do exactly
what you described. We share best practice, we share what
is working. We try to find common operational goals so
that we're all working toward the same kind of support.
Speaker 3 (23:38):
For our families. Although that looks different in every community.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
I share with people that this is I have thirty
five years in the nonprofit sector. This system, this organization
is more apt to share best practice. I can pick
up the phone in any given day and call any
other chapter around the country and ask for help, guidance, suggestions,
(24:04):
and it's readily accessible and given to me.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I know you and I both know this. But you're
in one of the most important cities in the world,
and I don't know how much advocating you have to
do or go to Capitol Hill. But when it comes
to advocating and growing Ronald McDonald house, how does advocation work?
If there is any Yeah, it.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
Is more community based.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
I would say we're really more grassroots. It's the volunteers
that we work with, It's the community sport that support
that we get.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
It is the community that comes out for Red Shoe.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Five K Day, and that's really how we advocate on
behalf of our families.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
You know, you mentioned that Red Shoe five K is
just the biggest thing. But as you a look down
the line, is there anything that may be either another
region's doing or something that you're dreaming that with your team,
then maybe we could put something like this together one day.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
Well, my big dream the Atlanta Chapter is currently opening
one hundred and twenty bedroom house WOW in partnership with
Children's Hospital there. As I mentioned, our occupancy rate exceeds
one hundred percent. We do have wait lists for our family.
So my big dream is to be able to support
and serve more families.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
I want to twist back to donations and all the
ways to give and one of the things that people say, Dennis,
make sure that you asked this because I really would
like to donate, but I'd like to know where my
money's going. So with somebody who's donating towards the DC Chapter,
here and they make a donation, whether it's five dollars
or five thousand dollars, how is the money allocated Kimberly, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
So that goes to our operational budget and the money
is allocated to the areas of greatest needs. So you
can think about that from I mean, one of the
things I'd like to share is more than ever, families
are coming to us with food insecurity and so just
like the general public has experienced increases in the cost
of food, we do too.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
So support goes to all.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Those things I have discussed, the accommodations, the transportation, our
food program, and.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
The house the repair and maintenance of the houses themselves.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
So we program eighty over eighty five percent of every
dollar goes direct to program.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
You know, that's something that you just kind of jarred
my thinking as we were talking about this, is that
when you have a house, it's like anybody owning a
house is things are going to break down. So you
need people to fix those things. And I imagine you
have relationships there as well.
Speaker 3 (26:33):
Absolutely we do.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
We work with vendors and contractors and again with companies.
Some of that sometimes is in kind gifts, right, it's
the talents or the expertise, it's actual construction, sometimes it's equipment,
and so all of that comes together under our umbrella
support and really helps us support server families.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
All right, Well, one last thing about donations before I
let you go, and we'll get some final thoughts from
you in the website one more time and remind everybody
once again about the fifteenth annual Rendshee five K Sunday,
October fifth at National Harbor. And that's when it comes
to there's always a lot of business leaders that listen
to this program, and there's small, medium, large businesses. If
(27:17):
they want to be partners with you, not just maybe
make a donation, but partners with you. What's the best
route to do that, So.
Speaker 3 (27:23):
That is to contact us directly.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
They can contact us through our website and I will
share that many companies have found that employee engagement is
really the intersection between what we do and the families
we support and their own business strategy. So that can
be recruitment, it can be retention of the employees, it
can be recognition about standing employees, and all of that
(27:49):
can happen in our house. So feed the house opportunity
for a company to come together with some of their
employees and volunteer and experience being in the community and
moving back is something that we provide.
Speaker 1 (28:02):
O't standing well, Kimberly, we only have a few minutes left,
so I want to give the website and if there's
any social channels that people can check out as well,
and just maybe some final thoughts from you from the
Red Shoe five K coming up and just what we've
talked about the floor is yours.
Speaker 3 (28:15):
Absolutely, thanks so much so.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
In addition to registering for our Red Shoe five K,
obviously we'd love a donation, but just as important is
following us on social media channels. Share our posts, tell
our stories, help us spread the word. Understanding our work,
just understanding that we're here in the community and sharing
(28:38):
our story is really helpful and ultimately helps us in
fundraising as well.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
You can amplify our mission.
Speaker 2 (28:46):
It will help us serve more families and it will
help us find more donors in our progress to help
the families.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
Well said, let's give the website just one more.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Time, okay.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
It is www dot MHCDC dot org or for the
Red Shoe five k's www Redshoe five k dot org.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
That's Danny Well. Kimberly give my best at Carill for
joining us to talk about the Red Shoe five K,
your team and what you're doing. It's just absolutely incredible
and I'm glad that iHeart can be a megaphone and
their partners with Ronald McDonald house. It's just extraordinary. We're
excited about it. What's coming up for you and I'm
glad that we could finally get you on a community
DC show.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Thank you so much, Thank you so much for the
time today.
Speaker 2 (29:31):
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networks or stereotypes.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
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the workforce who are stars.
Speaker 4 (29:45):
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Speaker 2 (29:49):
It's time to tear the paper ceiling and see the
stars beyond it.
Speaker 3 (29:53):
Find out how you can make stars part of your
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