Ronald McDonald House Charities

Ronald McDonald House Charities 

Birthday Wishes Challenge

Stampin' Up! has a long history of supporting philanthropic causes. 'Helping others' and 'making a difference' is part of our mission statement.

Over the past two decades, almost three decades in fact, we are very proud to have seen demonstrators all over the world embrace these words and make a difference in the lives of others.

We are excited to be celebrating our 10th anniversary in the UK, and to mark this special occasion; Stampin' Up! UK has set a challenge to make a whopping 10,000 cards across two card-making weekends in 2017. These cards will be donated to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. 

The first card-making weekend is called ‘Birthday Wishes Challenge’ and takes place between Friday 23 June and Sunday 25 June.

  The second card-making weekend is called ‘Christmas Cheer Challenge’ and takes place between Friday 1 December and Sunday 3 December. 

About Ronald McDonald House Charities

Ronald McDonald House Charities provides free 'home away from home' accommodation to families while their child is in hospital. There are 14 Ronald McDonald Houses across the UK, all located close to specialist children's hospitals. The Houses are open 365 days a year and are equipped with everything you would find in a family home. Families can get a good night’s sleep, prepare their own meals and feel at home, knowing that they are only moments away from their child
(http://www.rmhc.org.uk/what-we-do/).

Please read to the bottom as there is more information regarding RMHC

Cary and I held 2 events this weekend. The first was with our team of lovely ladies on Friday evening and the second, as an all day class on Saturday.  

We had a fantastic turnout and even more fantastic results. We thought that we might reach 150 cards. On Friday, our team of 7 made 137 in 2 hours and the class of 12 made 147 in 6 hours.

We are so proud of all of the amazing hard work they have done. 

The numbers are still increasing as we are both determined to add to them and exceed 300.

Here are a few pictures of them working and their results.

Here is Cary having a moments break.

 

Here are the results from Saturday's work with some of our lovely ladies setting them all out. 

 Cary and I designed 5 cards each and the ladies had Whisper White and Very Vanilla cards 

to make all of the projects in. 

How will the card donations help the Charity?

“Having a child in Hospital far from home can be costly, financially, emotionally and physically. Isolation
from peers and risk of unemployment is a very real concern for many families with children in Hospital
long term.
Ronald McDonald House Charities know when a child is in Hospital the priority is to be by their side. But a single pull-out bed is not enough to keep a family together and very few can afford costly hotel bills. Debts can soon mount and the stress and strain of daily uncertainties can exhaust and damage the
strongest of families. Our Houses relieve financial hardship, safeguard family stability, and promotes
strong health and wellbeing to ensure the best possible outcomes for our families during and beyond
their child’s stay in Hospital.
Ronald McDonald House Charities is an independent charity providing free accommodation, care and
support to families with seriously ill children in Hospital. We achieve this through the provision of 14
Houses across the UK. Families can stay with us free of charge for as long as their child is being treated,
whether that is for a couple of nights or for years. Last year we supported over 7,700 families, and the
average length of stay was 16 nights.

Over the next three years we will be opening four new Ronald McDonald Houses, the first of which
opens its doors today! The new Ronald McDonald House Evelina London, is a relocation and expansion
of our first ever House in the UK. The 59 bedroom House will be welcoming families of children being
treated at the Evelina London Children’s Hospital, enabling them to keep their families close in the run
up to Christmas.
We are also currently building our first-ever House in Wales, with the 30 bed Ronald McDonald House
Cardiff due to open mid-2017, supporting families with children being treated at Noah’s Ark Children’s
Hospital, and the neonatal unit at the University Hospital of Wales.
Sticking to the ‘capitals’ we are working with the Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh and building a 26 bedroom House within the new Children’s Hospital. As we are part of the wider hospital build, we will open in line with the rest of the project, which will likely be mid-2018.
Finally we were recently granted planning position for a relocation and expansion of our Oxford House,
supporting families of children being treated at the John Radcliff Hospital. Once open in 2019, we will be
able to increase our support form 17 families to 59!
As our Houses are located next to specialist children’s hospitals, we support families who have to travel
from all over the UK (and abroad) to receive the specialist treatment each hospital offers; meaning we
are supporting families from each of our communities.
The support Stampin’ Up! are providing through these amazing card-making weekends means that our
families have access to beautifully crafted cards which they can send to their loved ones back home –
creating a bit of normality in what is a very stressful and alien situation for many. We are so grateful to
Stampin’ Up! and their demonstrators for their support!”
Nicola Savage, Fundraising Manager at Ronald McDonald House charities