WillowCreek Gives
Our Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) House Story
In December of 2023, my husband and I welcomed our first baby into our family just two days before Christmas - a sweet little girl that we named Nicole. Just weeks later at 18 days old, she became deathly ill with a severe and deadly infection called GBS (Group B Streptococcus), which caused bacterial meningitis, ventriculitis, and vasculitis, and resulted in Nicole having several strokes and many seizures. Given the severity and rarity of her illness, Nicole had to be life-flighted from our local hospital to Doernbecher Children's Hospital in Portland, five hours away from our home in Southern Oregon, where we would end up staying for an entire month. As we were prepped to transfer hospitals, the nurses recommended we apply to the Portland RMHC house, called the Rood Family Pavilion. With just one phone call from my mother-in-law, we were given a safe place to stay during our daughter’s life-saving treatments. While my husband and I ended up spending every night by our daughter's side on a horrible, tiny daybed in her hospital room, my mother-in-law was able to remain with us for support by staying at the Rood Family Pavilion, and my husband and I were relieved to have a place to go during the daytime to nap, eat, wash laundry, and take a break from the hospital environment.
What Rood Family Pavilion offers
As you enter the Rood Family Pavilion, you enter into a clean and peaceful building with friendly and compassionate staff. It just takes a 5 minute aerial tram ride from the pavilion to the hospital, which is important for families like ours who couldn’t fathom staying far away from their sick child. There is an impressive sense of community with a shared kitchen and pantry where you can grab a pre-made snack or cook your own meals if you want to, as well as several weekly dinners cooked by volunteers. There is also a laundry room, community room with family activities, and an outdoor patio and play space for kids. On top of all of this, there is a huge focus on making kids feel comforted during their medical treatments. Upon arriving at the Pavilion, every family gets to take their child to the Family Support Office to pick out a blanket and stuffed animal, and children get to trade in a "Ronnie Buck" for a toy of their choosing. All of these services and amenities - comfortable and private hotel-like rooms, a fully stocked kitchen, a laundry room with all the supplies, activities and comfort items for children, and even breast pumps for nursing moms - are provided free of charge to families in need thanks to generous donations from the community.
Despite her rough start, our sweet Nicole is now almost a year old and thriving thanks to the care she was able to receive at Doernbecher Children's Hospital. If it weren't for the support of the Rood Family Pavilion, we would have needed to stay much farther from the hospital and would have had much greater financial burden.
When a family’s world is flipped upside down by a scary diagnosis or medical challenge for their child - as ours was in January of 2023 - the Rood Family Pavilion (in partnership with Ronald McDonald House Charities of Oregon & SW Washington) provides a home away from home for children and their families. Your financial donations will go directly to RMHC and will help provide shelter, food, and comfort items to children and their families.
For more information, check out these websites:
