RISE & Dine with Ronald McDonald House
We love our city and try to support local businesses and restaurants as much as we can. But, one thing we constantly talk about is donating our time to help local causes. So when Ronald McDonald House contacted us to participate in the RISE & Dine program for an evening we knew we had to do it.
If you’re not familiar with the Ronald McDonald House (RMH) of Cleveland, they provide a comfortable place to stay for families whose children are receiving medical treatment at local hospitals, at little to no cost. They offer amenities such as recreation rooms, a resource center and even laundry. They also provide three meals a day to the guests. They really strive to provide a sense of normalcy to these families going through a rough time.
The RISE & Dine program pairs renowned Cleveland chefs with volunteer groups to make a homemade meal for the families staying at RMH. Typically, the volunteer group donates funds to RMH to cover the cost of the meal, and with the funds, the chef creates a meal plan and purchases the fresh ingredients. The volunteers and chef then join together at RMH and the chef gives a hands-on cooking lesson to the group. Once the meal is prepared, families are invited to come down and enjoy the meal with the chef and volunteers. The volunteers receive a cooking class from a renowned chef and the families get a high quality meal, so everyone wins!
We met up with some of our favorite foodie/blogger friends for this special event. Our cooking experience was led by one of our favorite chefs from one of our favorite restaurants, Matt Fish of Melt Bar & Grilled. The meal Matt chose for us to make was the Backyard BBQ chicken grilled cheese sandwich, potato salad and watermelon salad. All items paired perfectly together.
Matt had different stations set up so we could work on the whole meal at once. We started at the cole slaw station to make the slaw for the sandwiches. We were all spread out either making BBQ sauce, dressing, the salads, etc. It was really nice that Matt had the instructions written out for us but he was also walking around answering our questions and chatting with us.After we were all done at our stations, we assembled the sandwiches together. It was really fun getting a behind the scenes peek at how the crew at Melt makes their famous grilled cheese.
Once we were done cooking, we received a tour of the grounds and the house. We were amazed how home-y the place feels. The gardens and outdoor space were gorgeous and comforting. The play rooms, office space and living space were all inviting and perfect for families to do work, rest and play. In addition to the house, they have family rooms at four area medical centers, and also run a website, RedTreehouse.org, which is an online resource for Ohio families. We also learned that 97% of the annual budget for the Cleveland RMH comes from the local community which was really surprising and also really awesome!
Thanks again to Matt Fish, Melt and Ronald McDonald House for inviting us to cook for the families and to learn more about this wonderful organization. For more information about the Ronald McDonald House and for ways to help, please check out their website HERE.
Thanks for sharing this – I’m always looking for easy ideas for volunteering and love the mission of the Ronald McDonald House. Do you know if kids can help too?