The House That Love Built

Lori and John were able to keep their room at the Ronald McDonald House! This is truly a blessing, second only to Bella’s good health! RMH is such a wonderful place and has made our situation easier to deal with. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Ronald McDonald House, I would like to tell you about the organization that has been such a blessing in our lives.

When I think of RMH now, as opposed to 1 month, 1 week and 2 days ago, my heart is overwhelmed with thankfulness, joy, and true amazement that such a place exists. And now that I am aware and have experienced first hand the blessing, I feel it is important to share with others.

In 2008 RMH provided 6,625 family members a place to stay in the Pensacola facility alone. 1,621 of these rooms were provided to families, like ours, who had babies who were dealing with the uphill battle of being born too soon. Unfortunately between 2006 and 2008, this 9 unit facility had to turn families away over 3,000 times due to a lack of space. This prompted the Pensacola chapter of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northwest Florida to launch their “Capitol Campaign” to raise $5 million dollars for a new 26 unit facility. This new facility is well underway and is scheduled to be completed by August. If Bella continues to do well, she should be home long before then, but to the countless families to come, this will be a wonderful blessing.

RMH is known as "The House That Love Built". I am very proud to live in a community that is so compassionate and full of love. My family has been surrounded by many wonderful people who have gone above and beyond what we could have ever imagined. This is done not just now for our family, but on countless occasions for people who are facing difficult circumstances. All of your visits, cards, comments, calls and gifts to our family have been more than welcomed and greatly appreciated. In addition to what has been done for our family personally, your contributions of pop tabs and your Kaps for Kids T-Shirt orders AMAZED the staff at the Pensacola RMH! For those of you who still want to help and continue to ask how you could do so, I would like to suggest supporting the New RMH by donating household items. Basically, they are in need of ANY item you use in your own home. Anything from an inexpensive box of Kleenex or a can of green beans, to a large box of washing powder or even scrap booking materials. For those of you who ordered a T-shirt through us, I attached a RMH Wish list that included a variety of items and information. The Wish List can be viewed at http://www.rmhpensacola.org/LinkedFiles/Wishlist.pdf If you are from our community and would like to donate, please get up with me and I will be glad to deliver any of these items for you. Even if you don't' live close by, let me know and I'm sure some type of arrangement could be made. I would also like to encourage all of you to visit www.rmhpensacola.org to see just how awesome this place really is!

"I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Acts 20:35