Having the luxury of great health and family, it can be difficult for me to see outside the realm of comfortability and see the daily hardships people experience. There are so many people without housing, stability, and monetary resources, and these people often find themselves wondering where they can find help and figure out what to do next during trying times. One place people can reach out for assistance is Ronald McDonald House Charities.
The nonprofit provides housing and food for families with a critically ill child in the hospital. The forty-two room house aims to provide comfort and support for families living through their worst nightmare. The charity provides this support by its network of staff and volunteers who prepare food for residents, donate clothes and gifts for the kids, and maintain the house so that the house truly feels like a home for these families.
Although the time I spent volunteering is insignificant to the hard work countless people provide for these families, I was able to observe the impact my small contribution provided for the residents. On Sunday morning, my group and I prepared breakfast for twenty residents in the house. It was a simple meal of eggs, bacon, and biscuits. It was nothing special or extraordinary. We just placed the ingredients in the oven and waited for them to cook, and for that first quarter of service, I felt that I was not contributing anything to the charity.
I felt like I cheated. Volunteering for me means doing something impactful for people and an organization without expecting praise. My waiting around for biscuits to rise just did not feel impactful, and I did not feel that it was fair for me to say I volunteered without doing anything substantial. As we completed the meal, a trickle of residents came through the kitchen and grabbed their meals. They all smiled and said thank you as they went into the dining area.
Their appreciation and kind words did make me feel that our service was impactful, but it was when one particular couple came to eat breakfast that made me see the true value of our volunteering. While the couple were grabbing their food, they were smiling at us and thanking us for coming to serve breakfast. They said that they appreciated our kindness and wanted us to have a great Christmas and New Year. The couple went ahead and ate their meal, and after twenty minutes, they came back and thanked us again for the meal saying that it was delicious and tasted like home.
The couple’s demeanor mirrored the demeanor of the other guests, and I was just going to lump their compliments with the others and continue thinking about what | have planned for the rest of the day, but after learning more about the couple’s reasons for being in the house, we all came to understand how special that compliment was. After they left, Yarlleina Hardy, the woman who oversaw our service, told us that they lost everything in a house fire including their three year old child.
Luckily, the father was able to rescue their eight month old child, who is currently being treated for third degree burns. The dual loss of their home and child must be a devastating emotional experience, and this loss of comfort must weigh a heavy burden over this couple’s head. I cannot even imagine the pain this couple is having as they deal with the health of the youngest child. When this couple said that the breakfast tasted like home, we all witnessed the impact cooking has on people who are going through loss.
By saying it tastes like home, we all hoped that the couple meant that the meal provided a moment of comfort and nostalgia about their home and family as they ate. We all definitely recognized the comforting power food does provide for people. Our seemingly insignificant actions as volunteers hopefully provided the residents a moment of comfort and serenity as they endure incredibly trying times. The interaction with couple grounded my experience at Ronald McDonald House. In my arrogance, 1 underestimated how small actions such as cooking can unknowingly provide a touching effect on others.
Internally, I complained about about how I felt that my actions were insignificant while people in the same building are living through moments of emotional pain and torment. I realized that my attitude was immature and inconsiderate. Due to the emotional distress that these families are currently enduring, they need relief from the additional stress of getting food or paying for electricity. By cooking and volunteering, we may have been able to momentarily alleviate some of the burden these families face and allow them more time to focus on the health of their children.