Grand Re-Opening Announced!

The excitment level at RMHH has reached an all-time high as we work towards hosting families once again at the beginning of July. We will be holding many special tours and events leading up to our re-opening and we would like to invite you and your families to join us for our Public Open House on Sunday June 24, from 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. In line with our upcoming grand opening we have finally launched our newly designed website at www.rmhhamilton.ca. There you will find information about the new additions to our Home, programs that we will offer to our families, upcoming events and much more! Speaking of upcoming events... our biggest family event is coming up on Sunda June 10, 2012. Please bring your families out for a great day at the ArcelorMittal Dofasco FH Sherman Park in Stoney Creek. We have some really fun activities lined up this year including face painting, mini putt, a caricture artist...we will even have the Hamilton Tiger Cats special bouncy castles there! Consider it a "pre=party" to our grand opening event! Visit www.footstepsforfamilies.com for more information. There is a lot going on in the next few weeks- we hope to see you out at one (or all) of our events!

Upcoming Events

We have some great things happening in the next few weeks and we would love for you to join us!

McHappy Day is a very special tradition for McDonald’s® restaurants across Canada. On May 2nd, McDonald’s will bring together their employees, customers, suppliers, and other special guests to raise money to help children in need across Canada. On McHappy Day, $1 from every Big Mac® sandwich, Happy Meal®, and hot McCafé beverage sold in McDonald’s restaurants will go to local children’s charities across the country, such as Ronald McDonald House®. In addition, many restaurants will hold fundraising events leading up to McHappy Day. We ask all of our friends to please visit our supporting McDonald's Restaurants this year!

Footsteps for Families, our biggest family event is being held on Sunday June 10, 2012 at Dofasco's F.H. Sherman Park & Recreation Centre. Join us for a great day for the whole family to enjoy! Registering and fundraising is made easy through our website at www.footstepsforfamilies.com. You can create your own personal fundraising webpage and ask your friends and family to sponsor you through our secure site.

We hope to share our grand re-opening date with you soon as we complete the last stages of construction on our newly expanded home. Keep checking our blog for our Community House Tour date this spring!

Finishing Touches

Spring is finally here and our House is another step closer to re-opening for our families. We are finally in the stage of the "finshing touches". The accessories and appliances are being delivered as you read this post! The bedrooms, lounges, kitchens and dining spaces are all being put together. We are very close to confirming a date when we can share our new home with you. Please keep checking our website and this blog for updates!

Here are some photos of the amazing addtions to Ronald McDonald House Hamilton.

The Ultimate Race - a great sucess for RMHH!

Ronald McDonald House Hamilton hosted a very special evening on Friday March 2, 2012 at Carmen’s Banquet Centre in Hamilton. The interactive event provided 600 guests with the opportunity to compete against their friends and colleagues in unique competitions and games, enjoy a great buffet dinner and dance the night away all in support of the ongoing operation of the newly expanded RMHH. Many prizes were won throughout the night including an exciting grand prize trip for two to Hawaii!!

Thanks to the support of over 30 sponsors and all of the attendees,the Inaugural Ultimate Race raised a remarkable $60,000! We thank everyone who supported this first time event. The funds raised through this event will directly support the operation of the newly expanded House - opening SOON!

Our Latest Construction Update

Grand Prize Winners - McDonald's Crew Program

With the help of three lovely staff members here at the House, we have pulled the Grand Prize Winners of our McDonald's Crew Contest!

The winner of the Telus Blackberry Torch is… Meghan Nicholson from the Hespler Road restaurant!

The winner of the Hockey Fest VIP Concert Package is… Clairlise Jones from the Dundas restaurant!

The winner of the iPad 2 from WW Works is… Jacob Wideman from the Northfield & Daven Port Road restaurant!

Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all the crew for your remarkable support of Ronald McDonald House Hamilton. Since the beginning of December we have raised over $50,000 through the sale of the RMHH Gel Bracelets!

Touring New Friends

Yesterday we met with the President and Management team from Regional Tire Distributors. This enthusiastic group came to visit the House to talk about plans for a future partnership with Ronald McDonald House Hamilton. RT Distributors will support the House in many different ways, as a sponsor at our fundraising events, through volunteering in the House and the Family Room and through their generous financial contributions.

Mike Kustra, President of RT Distributors spoke to us about his experience touring through the RMHH construction site.

“Not only is RMHH providing an affordable boarding solution to those families in need, but the team and facilities at RMHH are devoted to instilling a sense of home for parents and children alike. The new and expanded RMHH is going to be very innovative and surely help more families make the most out of life’s everyday moments during tough times. To see how helpful the old RMHH was to the Malcolm’s and Swart’s, the improved facility will bring this comfort and unity to even more families. The entire staff at Regional Tire Distributors looks forward to helping RMHH support the families of seriously ill children who are receiving treatment at McMaster Children’s Hospital.”

We are so excited that the opportunities for this new partnership are endless as we work together to provide the very best care for the thousands of families that use our House.

Above is a video clip from the tour yesterday. As you can see, things are coming along nicely on the tops floors of the House addition!

Thank You Royal Bank

Royal Bank has partnered with Ronald McDonald House Hamilton. RBC branches in Simcoe, Port Dover, Fisherville and Hagersville are selling RMHH gel bracelets until the end of January!

We visited the branch in Simcoe last week to say thank you and met up with local residents Becky Heighington and Jay Hoover who stayed at RMHH last year when their son, Raiden, was born almost three months prematurely. Becky and Jay expressed to Scott Dickson and Mike Cole from RBC just how much Ronald McDonald House Hamilton helped them last year and stressed the importance of fundraising within their community.

We are so grateful that RBC is running this program. If you live in the Simcoe area and don't have a bracelet yet, please visit your local RBC branch to get one!

In this photo from left to right: Jay Hoover, holding Raiden Hoover, Becky Heighington, Janice Shearer (RMHH), Mike Cole (RBC) and Scott Dickson (RBC).

Getting Closer

The past two weeks have been full of activity at Ronald McDonald House!

Here is a shot of one of our new bedrooms (carpet and bed are coming soon), a view of our new dining/cafe area for the families and our almost complete new front enterance!

As we move closer to opening our doors we will continue to share photos of the progress!

Final Crew Winner!

Our 4th and final McDonald's Crew Program winner of the fully stocked Red Bull Fridge is Stacey Lachenbauer from the Upper Gage Restaruant in Hamilton. Congrats Stacey!

The Grand Prize draws will happen on Friday January 27th where we will pull winners for an iPad 2, a Telus Blackberry Torch and a VIP Package for Hockey Fest 2012. Good Luck to all the crew that have participated!

For those of you who still haven't purchased a gel bracelet, we are excited to announce that Royal Bank locations in Hagersville, Port Dover and Simcoe will be selling RMHH gel bracelets as of this Friday - thank you RBC!!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2012! We hope you had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed spending time with friends and family.

Things at RMHH are starting to go back to their regular routine as we prepare for a very busy winter. With plans to open our House to families this Spring, the next few months are going to be very hectic! If you watched our latest construction video you saw that we have come a long way the last few weeks but we still have quite a bit of work ahead of us. Now that we have all enjoyed some much needed rest, it's time to get back to work!

Speaking of hard work, the McDonald's Restaurants continued to sell RMHH gel bracelets over the holidays. Most restaurants still have them in stock so if you haven't got yours yet, you still have time!

Congratulations to Rachel Fougere, the 3rd winner of our McDonald's Crew Program! We will be pulling the last ballot for our final Red Bull fridge tomorrow and our Grand Prize winners will be pulled on January 25th. Winners names will be posted in our blog updates so make sure to check back!

Arden Returns: A Sneak Peek Inside RMH Hamilton

All the pieces are finally coming together here at home. Little Arden and her brother return give you a little peek into the renovations and upgrades the house has gone through in the last few months. Arden couldn't believe the changes the house has gone through.

McDonald's Crew Winner #2!

We are very excited to share that the WEEK 2 WINNER of the fully stocked Red Bull fridge is – Karen McKinnon from McDonald's Restaurant 40285 in Waterloo!! Congratulations Karen!!

There are only a few more days until Christmas and bracelets are still a hot selling item. We would like to thank the Crew at McDonald's Restaurant on Hespeler Road in Cambridge for their amazing efforts this month. They are currently the top selling store with 2,690 bracelets sold so far!!

A big thank you to everyone who has purchased a bracelet in support of Ronald McDonald House Hamilton, you are helping us get closer to opening our doors.

Thank You Beamsville McDonald's!

Today we visited the newly renovated Beamsville McDonald's Restaurant to thank them for their extraordinary efforts raising funds for Ronald McDonald House Hamilton. The bracelets are selling so well at their store that they have asked for an extra 100 to be delivered!

One of the front line crew told us that she actually stayed at our House when her daughter was born. Here she is pictured with the Owner/Operator and the Operations Manager at the restaurant.

Thank you Beamsville McDonald's for all your hard work!

Chilli Cook-Off !

Yesterday the staff at Ronald McDonald House Hamilton hosted a holiday chilli luncheon for the construction workers on site at the House. It was a great way to say thank you for all of their hard work on our expansion project. There were 11 crock pots of chilli to choose from, some of the workers had 2,3 even 4 servings! We hope they all enojyed the lunch, we all had a great time putting it together for

them.

The Spirit of Giving

Although our House is closed for construction and things may not be looking very festive at the construction site, we have been lucky enough to recieve some wonderful holiday donations this week. Many of our donors have been calling and mailing in their annual holiday gift to the House.

On Monday one of our Campaign volunteers, Mark Cherney, dropped off the wrapped toys in this photo for our families! Yesterday we received toys, stuffed animals and beautiful snow globes from our friends at CHML through their Christmas Tree of Hope campaign. The families using our temporary home at the Visitor's Inn during the holidays will really appreciate these generous gifts.

We truly appreciate all the support from our community. If you are interested in making a holiday gift to Ronald McDonald House Hamilton please contact us at 905-521-9983.

And the winner is....

Yesterday we pulled the first winner from our McDonald's Crew program!Ryan L. from Iroquois Shore in Oakville is the lucky winner of our fully stocked Red Bull Fridge! We'll be pulling our next winner on Wednesday December 21st so we're encouraging the crew to keep up the great work for your chance to win!!

Although it's dark and rainy outside, we are not letting the weather get us down! Today we have some exciting things happening at the House. We are touring some of our friends from TD Bank this morning as they are donating $50,000 to the House so we can build a new Volunteer Lounge as part of our expansion project. We can't wait to show them how it's coming along and introduce them to our new Volunteer Manager, Shelley Harrison.

This afternoon we are stopping by the CHML radio station to accept our donation from this year's Christmas Tree of Hope fundraiser!

Now if only this rain would turn to snow and we could all get into the holiday spirit a little bit more... only 10 days until Christmas!

November/December Construction Update!

Celebrating our Volunteers

Last night the staff and volunteers of Ronald McDonald House Hamilton got together to celebrate the holidays at the beautiful Liuna Station. Since the volunteers at the House have been on hiatus during the construction, it was great to have everyone together again!

The event gave us a chance to update our volunteers on everything that has been happening at the House, introduce our new Board President, David Millen and give out the volunteer service pins for 3,5 and 10 years of service.

One of the engineers working on the site found himself in need of Ronald McDonald House this summer when his wife had an emergency C-section at McMaster Children's Hospital. Brad generously agreed to say a few words of thanks to our volunteers last night and introduced us all to his wife Sarah and baby boy, Griffin.

Here are some photos from the evening, including Gene Sloka, receiving his 10 year service pin last night!

See us on TV - Rogers Cable 20 "daytime"!

This afternoon Janice was interviewed live with the Gibson-Smith family on the Rogers Cable 20 show "daytime".

Kim Gibson-Smith and her son Parker are wonderful adovates of Ronald McDonald House Hamilton and the Ronald McDonald Family Room at the hospital. This family found themselves using our Family Room when Parker was diagnosed with Leukemia just weeks before Kim was expected to deliver her second child. With her daughter Cadence by her side and son Parker now in remission, it was a delight to spend time with them this afternoon and share their beautiful story.

Host, Susan Cook-Shearer was given a Help Our Doors Open t-shirt to help promote the sale of our gel bracelets this month. To watch the interview on "daytime" visit their website at www.rogerstv.com