knoxrmhc.org

1705 West Clinch Avenue l Knoxville, Tennessee 37916

Tennessee’s First

spring l 2011

Beat the Winter BluesWho knew a fundraiser could be such fun?!

Once again this year Stanley’s Greenhouse opened its doors on a dreary winter’s evening to party-goers who sought to “beat the winter blues” and dream of spring! With a winning com-bination of wonderful food provided by Akima, soothing music by harpist Anne Jackson, deli-cious wine, incredibly beautiful flowers, laughter and good friends the evening was destined to be a success! A crowd of approximately 250 people raised $8,375 for the Ronald House and showed us all a great way to “beat the winter blues”!

An Artful Array of Goodies

Another Successful Turkey Tailgate!!!Over the years we have learned

that the hardworking members of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority will always manage to come through for us and this year was no exception. Once again the ADPis planned a fun event which meant dollars for our House with their Turkey Tailgate on Saturday, November 13. The active members of the sorority, as well as many alumnae in the area, com-bined a tailgate party with a silent auction and raised $5,580 to benefit our House.

They also showed us how well they could roll with the punches

when the kick-off time of the UTvs. Ole’ Miss football game was changed from evening to noon to accommodate the televi-sion schedule. On one week’s notice the previously planned tailgate menu of turkey burg-ers, beans and related sides was hastily changed to turkey biscuits and fruit cups so they could serve breakfast rather than dinner! These are gals that are unflappable and we’re so glad they choose to supportour House!!

Enjoying Friends & Flowers

Holiday Sweets!!

Whew!! We’ve Been Busy!!!! Have you ever wondered what we’re all about, who uses our fa-cilities and why we constantly talk about fundraising?? Last year we had almost 2,000 folks use our House!!! We had 43 different diagnoses bring families through our front door – the top three were prema-ture births, respiratory issues and cancer. 70% of our patient base was newborns to three year- olds. Overall occupancy for 2010 was 73%, although there were many days we were 100% full!!! The aver-age stay for our families was seven nights. We had referrals from sev-en different medical facilities and

served families from 46 Tennes-see counties and eleven states outside of Tennessee!! We were thrilled that we were able to meet our budget of $446,00 last year and that is due to the incredible support we receive from our community. When you see the vast number of folks who use our House, you can understand how important every dollar is to us. Our Boardand staff strive daily to make the best use of your contributions as we serve our families. Yes, we’ve been busy – but we couldn’t do it without all our loyal supporters.

Rockin’ Docs Southbound in the Old City was the place to be on February 25th as physician-based bands representing area hospitals gathered for some friendly com-petition and the chance to raise some $$$ for local non-profits. The cover charge was divvied up according to the number of “fans” who came to support their favorite band, and...”Second

Opinion” was the group represent-ing our RMH with their talents net-ting $923.!!! Now, open your mouth and say, “awwwwwwww-some”!

Once again this year we were able to put treats on holiday tables and help our House with our signature event, Just Desserts! For the second year in a row DJ Jennifer Alexander of B-97.5 radio station took to the airwaves to auction off desserts to raise money for our House. The week of November 15 – 18 Jennifer auctioned off four desserts a day to the highest bidder. Delectable desserts were donated by twenty different area establishments in-

cluding Ye Olde Steak House, Abner’s Attic, Naples Ital-ian Restaurant, VG’s Bakery and Sweet Pea’s Barbecue to name a few. The lucky bid-ders received a gift certificate for a specific dessert to be re-deemed during the holidays. This auction raised $1,470 for the House (and raised a few calories, too)!! Be listen-ing to B-97.5 next November and call in your bid for your favorite dessert!

Farm Bureau FriendsFor many years our friends at

the Farm Bureau have extended a helping hand to the Ronald McDonald House. Lucky for us, those helping hands are carry-ing groceries!! On February 21 of this year twenty-four members from Farm Bureau collected and delivered food and monetary donations totaling $2,900 to the local House in celebration of the nutritious, affordable food U.S. farmers and ranchers provide

for consumers who need to stretch their dollar with healthy food. What an incredible gift to the families who stay at our House to have our pantries and refrigerators stocked with meats, vegetables and all sorts of food. The Ronald McDonald House held a reception that morn-ing with various Board members on hand to thank the Farm Bureau members for their generous gift of food and friendship!

Can you do the Can-Can???

No, not the French dance (although you might be good at that), but we sure hope you can help us out with our CAN-isters!!!! As you go to your local McDonald’s Restaurants and especially to the drive-thru windows, keep your eyes open and look for the canisters. You won’t believe what a differ-ence your change in those canisters makes to our House!! Last year we collected just under $123,000 from the can-isters!!!! That is more than one-fourth of our budget for the entire year!!! So, can you do the can-can???? Please look for the can-isters and drop in your spare change. Such a small contri-bution on your end adds up to huge contributions to our House in a years’ time!!

Laura Barnes – She has a Heart for Children

College of Nursing Outstand-ing Alumni Award and has also been awarded the Nurse of Dis-tinction Award by the Tennes-see Hospital Association. In addi-tion to her many responsibilities at Children’s Hospital, she hasserved as President of the Tennessee Organization of NurseExecutives. Needless to say, we were delight-ed several years ago when Laura agreed to join the Board of Direc-tors of the Ronald McDonald House. Since so many of our families have little ones staying at Children’s Hos-pital, it’s especially gratifying to us that a busy executive at the Hos-

Our Laura

What are the words that come to your mind when you think of a nurse? Compassion, caring, kindness, knowledge, strength, patience, inquisitive-ness – all wonderful attributes that you find in Ronald Board Member Laura Barnes. Laura demonstrates these qualities each day as she heads to work at East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, where her official title is Vice President for Patient Care. She has been with Children’s Hospital for over 35 years and her skills, training and exper-tise have taken her from the hospital floor to the incredible responsibility of supervising all the nursing staff at Children’s, as well as other areas such as Home Health, Pastoral Care and Rehabilitation.

Laura graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Nursing and has dedicated her professional life to the care and well-being of children. Her accomplishments in the field of nursing have been lauded by her peers. She has received the

pital would want to serve on our Board. Laura’s leadership talents and wonderful personality quickly impressed the other Board mem-bers, who have chosen her to serve as President beginning in January of 2012. In her “non-hospital” life, Laura can be found happily involved at her church (singing in the choir and serving as a Stephen’s Minis-ter), participating in a book group with close friends, participating in marathons to benefit the Leukemia-Lymphoma Society and religiously counting her steps on her pedom-eter – including friendly competi-tions with friends and co-workers!!

Laura’s husband is pediatrician Bob Barnes, who recently retired after many, many years of caring for Knoxville’s children. Truly, Laura Barnes has a heart for children. The health and well-being of the chil-dren of East Tennessee has been her life’s work. The Ronald McDon-ald House is thrilled to count Lauraas part of our family!

Recycling to Help the

House!!!

Many of us try to recycle as much as possible in our daily lives to do our part for the environment and help keep our world green. One specific way you can recycle that will help the environment AND help the Ronald House is to gather aluminum cans and pull tabs. If you will gather cans and tabs at your home or business and drop them off at our House, we have a wonderful volunteer who will come and take them to the recycling center for us. Our recycling volunteer is “giving back” to our House as an expression of ap-preciation because he is a former Ronald McDonald House cancer patient who stayed in several Ronald Houses over the course of his treatment. Now that he’s in remission he wants to pay back the House, so he has volunteered to come to our House and transport our cans and tabs to the recycling center. Last year we raised $4,200 in our recycling efforts. How about it?? Can you help us gather cans and tabs to help the House? You can just drop them off on our porch and our friendly volunteer will do the rest! Call 637-7475 with any questions.

Unloading the Bounty

Sweeeet!!

The Love family

Three months … or 90 days … even 2,160 hours. Depending on your perspective, it can be a brief passage of time or feel like an eternity. For Tosha & Wes Love that time frame is certainly significant as their daughter Amelia was born three months prematurely and they have called our Ronald McDonald House, “Home” for the last three months and counting. Born at one pound and seven ounces, and barely over twelve inches long, Amelia has been a fighter since she entered thisworld. Diagnosed with PDA (patent ductus arterious, an opening between two major blood vessels leading from theheart) she was transferred from

the Tri‐cities area to Children’s Hos-pital in Knoxville where doctors discovered the medicines she was given caused a hole to develop in her intestine and she was found to have a degree of brain damage due to a bleed. She had surgery to insert a shunt needed to help drain the spinal fluid that had accumulated and was placed on a ventilator. Long days spent at Amelia’s side, plus the emotional toll of seeing your firstborn struggling so led the weary parents to inquire about accommodations for themselves, which is how they found out about our House only a few blocks away.Realizing theirs would be a lengthy hospitalization and that a four‐hour round trip to and from home in Piney Flats, TN would not be physi-cally nor economically feasible, they decided to check in. “I couldn’t believe what my eyes were seeing”, said Tosha. “It was a huge house with plenty of nice clean space with beautiful furniture and a pri-vate room that had a comfortable bed. The kitchen was well stocked, we had all the necessities, and we could do laundry free of charge. They even had a soda machine with 25 cent sodas. How great is that?? But more importantly, everyone opened their arms to us the mo-

ment we arrived and were will-ing to go above and beyond … That was such a great feeling”. Even though time seems to stand still when one has an ill child, the daily business of “living” goes on with financial obligations such as mortgages and car payments ever‐present … and soon Wes realized that he needed to return to work. “Being able to talk and pray with other families and the RMH staff while he was away meant so much to me”, Tosha related. “I knew I always had a shoulder to lean on or even cry on. I don’t really know how I would have gotten through those first days alone without my surrogate family.”The Love family hopes to be home within the next sev-eral months and they wish to share “the love” with their two new resolutions ... to drop their change in the canisters at McDonald’s when they visit while encouraging friends and family to do the same … and to donate meals to their local Ronald McDonald House. And in the not‐so‐distant future, we predict that Amelia will be their most able assistant chef!

McDonald’s and their

Customers – A Great Team!!!

Hooray for our local Mc-Donald’s restaurants and their loyal customers! Not only do your daily canis-ter contributions help our House, but two different events give us a real boost!Last fall’s McHappy Day re-sulted in a $26,626 dona-tion to our House thanks to those of you who partici-pated. More recently the lo-cal McDonald’s Restaurants sold “hearts” to benefit the Ronald McDonald House during the first two weeks of February. Obviously, East Tennessee customers have big hearts for our House because that event raised $25,981. We are always thankful for the wonderful support we receive from our local McDonald’s res-taurants and their fantas-tic customers. Thank you, thank you for making such a great team!

A Sweet Evening with the Sisters of the Skillet

Who are the Sisters of the Skil-let? Two big-hearted women who found their mutual love of food and cooking led to a wonderful friendship! Mary Constantine (food editor for the News-Sentinel and chef on local television shows) and Jennifer Alexander (radio personality, new mom and fabulous cook in her “spare” time) have combined

their talents to become the Sisters of the Skillet. Much to our delight they hosted a cooking demonstration at the Ronald McDonald House on November 30, also showcasing the talents of Belinda Ellis, a baking expert for Midstate Mills. Billed as “A Sweet Evening with the Sisters of the Skillet” the first twenty folks who signed up got to watch first-hand the preparation of various rec-ipes and pick up some baking tips along the way! Even better, they got to sample the goodies and take the recipes home with them. Thanks to the wonderful Sisters of the Skil-let and their desire to share their talents to benefit our House, the evening of sweets and treats raised nearly $400 for the House!

A Proud Mama & Papa

“In the Heart of Texas” You may know to head for Texas Roadhouse if you want a great rib dinner, but did you know that in addition to great ribs and steaks they have a wonderfully compassionate staff who reach out to help our families? For many years, Texas Roadhouse has graciously donated the din-ner for our golfers during our an-nual Ronald McDonald House Golf Tournament. This year they decided they wanted to get more involved with our House and set out to see what they could do. Upon surveying our needs, they realized our antiquated food storage system could definitely use an overhaul. Texas Roadhouse donated profes-sional-grade shelving for our food storage storeroom, helped re-configure the space for better

efficiency and oversaw the in-stallation of the new shelving. Now we can see what we have in stock and have a much easier time accessing the shelves. Not only did they get all the shelving installed for us, they came back and stocked the shelves for us. Their plan is to send volunteers to us on a regular basis – a plan we surely like!! Who knew the heart of Texas would land at the corner of Clinch and 17th??

Non-ProfitOrganization

U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 309Knoxville, TN

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Knoxville, TN, Inc.1705 W. Clinch AvenueKnoxville, TN 37916865.637.7475www.knoxrmhc.orgReturn Service Requested

2011 Board of Directors: Jeff AllenLaura BarnesMark BroddJohn Buckingham Joe Burger Janell CecilEric CochranBill EvansLynne Fain Keys FillauerMary Ann GibsonKeith Goodwin Terri Hale

Myra HaynesJulie HowardJoanne HuddlestonJohn HunterJane MartinCindy MayfieldMarianne NicholsDana O’KelleyButch PeccoloEd PershingJohn SheridanWilliam Terry, M.D.

2011 Board Update It is always gratifying to see how many of our former Board members eagerly agree to return to Board service. We are delight-ed this year to welcome Mark Brodd back on the Board. Mark previously served two terms and has remained an active part of the Ronald McDonald House team even when he wasn’t “offi-cially” on the Board. In his “daily life” Mark serves as Vice-President of Operations for Blaine Con-struction Corporation. We find his expertise in the construction business to be invaluable as we are continually faced with the is-sues of an aging house! We are thrilled to welcome three new faces to our Board this year. Janell Cecil, MSN, RN, NEA-BC is the Sr. Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at the University of Tennessee Medi-cal Center. She has more than 30 years’ experience in nursing and her present responsibilities in-clude oversight of 1,942 full-time employees of which 1,159 are registered nurses. Janell began her career in Kansas City, Mis-souri, worked for a period of time in Memphis and now lives here in Knoxville with husband, Bill. They have three children and are ea-gerly and anxiously awaiting the birth of their first grandchild this summer!! Eric Cochran, a native Knoxvil-lian, is well-acquainted with the our House as his grandfather, Lit-ton Cochran, was a moving force in establishing the Ronald Mc-Donald House in Knoxville. Eric began working for McDonald’s

Restaurants part time while a UT student and began full time work after his graduation. In December 2009 he was approved as an owner operator and is now the major-ity owner of the West Hills store on Kingston Pike. He also serves as Training Supervisor for 26 stores. In his “spare” time he is active at Faith Promise Church, a volunteer for Air1 and K-Love radio, member of Bible Study Fellowship and follows the Texas Rangers and University of Tennessee athletics. He also enjoys music, traveling, camping, movies and family. Mary Ann Gibson has been in-volved with the Ronald House as a member of its fundraising commit-tee in recent years. Mary Ann has been interested in Ronald Houses for many years with a great appre-ciation for their work with families of ill children. Mary Ann was instru-mental in the success of the “Beat the Winter Blues” event for the past two years. From the overall plan-ning to the smallest detail we could count on her. She is sensitive to the complex issues and opportunities faced by the Ronald House hav-ing previously served as Executive Director of a local non-profit. Mary Ann serves as a volunteer on com-mittees with many organizations in the Knoxville area and is an active member of Church Street United Methodist Church. She is a dedi-cated gardener, presently pursuing the achievement of Master Garden-er. She and husband, Barna, live in Blount County and are the parents of one grown daughter who pres-ently lives in North Carolina.

Thank you, thank you to Personal Computer Systems!! Their Director of Sales, Mike Asbury, donated four new computers for our staff. We are thrilled beyond words to have newstate of the art equipment so that all of our staff’s computers are com-patible with one another. Thanks also for their help in getting us “up and running”!! Thanks to AutoTrader.com for sharing with us nine of their employ-ees from regional offices around the state for a “Day of Caring” on March 3. These men and women pitched in and helped us by addressing some electrical needs, cleaned our House inside and out (including shampoo-ing rugs and washing windows),

did some of our never-ending yard work and capped it off by preparing food for our families. We are always humbled and grateful when our corporate friends share their time and employees to further our cause! In addition to their continuing fundraising efforts, our friends at K-Town Sam’s came on Janu-ary 17th to prepare soups, breads, and desserts for all our families. Can you think of anything more heartwarming on a cold wintry evening as you return from a day at the hospital with your sick child than walking into a kitchen fra-grant with warm soup and bread?? Thank you, K-Town Sam’s, for your thoughtfulness.

Dillard’s – A Banner Year!! Unknown to most mall shop-pers, Dillard’s Department Store has befriended the Ronald Mc-Donald House for the past seven-teen Christmas seasons!! Dillard’s has sold various items during the Christmas season and donated the proceeds to the House. For the past few years, they have sold a South-ern Living Cookbook to benefit the House. In 2009 they were extremely successful in their endeavors and presented us with over $11,000. This past Christmas they surpassed all previous years in a big way!!! The Knoxville Market was one of the highest grossing stores in the coun-

try and presented the Ronald House with a check for $18,330 from their Cookbook sales! Store Manager Tim Atkinson has already vowed to do even better next year!! We are so appreciative of our many corporate friends in the community. The man-agement and employees of Dillard’s have endeared themselves to us throughout the years. Nowhere is the stress of the Christmas season more evident than in the retail are-na. Isn’t it refreshing to know that the Dillard’s employees take their time during the Christmas season to reach out and help the Ronald McDonald House?

Kindnesses of the Heart

Jo Cochran, Emeritus