Banking on KC – Tami Greenberg of Ronald McDonald House Charities
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Kelly Scanlon:
Welcome to Banking on KC. I'm your host, Kelly Scanlon. Thank you for joining us. With us on this episode is Tami Greenberg, the CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities, Kansas City. Welcome, Tami.
Tami Greenberg:
Hi, Kelly. Thanks, I'm glad to be here.
Kelly Scanlon:
I think most of our listeners are at least somewhat familiar what the Ronald McDonald Houses. They've heard about them, if not use them. But still, go ahead and explain their purpose because I'm not sure people really realize everything you do.
Tami Greenberg:
Yeah, thanks for asking that. I think sometimes people have a sense that, "Oh, you help kids or you help families." Specifically what we do is we provide families with a place to stay while their children are seriously ill. We are taking care of families, keeping them close to their sick children, and so that's what a Ronald McDonald House does. It's almost like a hotel or boutique lodging or an Airbnb or something for families who have a sick child.
Almost all of our families, as you can imagine, have children being cared for by Children's Mercy. So if your child is in the intensive care unit at Children's Mercy, or you've come from a long way away for your child to be cared for by Children's Mercy, and you stay at Ronald McDonald House, and we take care of families so they can be close to their kids when they need it most.
Kelly Scanlon:
So while the children are being cared for by the experts at the hospital, you're taking care of the family's needs.
Tami Greenberg:
Exactly.
Kelly Scanlon:
So how many houses operate in the Kansas City area?
Tami Greenberg:
That's a great question. We have three Ronald McDonald Houses, and they're all actually right next to each other. We often call it our campus. So our campus, which is as you might imagine, very near Children's Mercy at 25th in Cherry. Our campus has three Ronald McDonald Houses. We also have two Ronald McDonald family rooms. So we have one family room that's inside Children's Mercy, it's literally steps from the ICU. And we have one Ronald McDonald family room that's in the Overland Park Regional Medical Center, which is near their neonatal ICU. So three houses, two family rooms. All in, we have 91 bedrooms for families. And so these are like hotel style lodging in the sense of it's two queen beds and a private bathroom, and it's where families stay. Again, 91 families every night where they stay, where they can be close to their kiddos when they're sick.
Kelly Scanlon:
And when you talk about the family room and you talk about the houses themselves, what's the difference there? Is the family room a day thing where they can go and get refreshed during the day, or do they spend the night there too, or?
Tami Greenberg:
The answer to that is like is yes, and-
Kelly Scanlon:
Whatever they need.
Tami Greenberg:
So yes, you are right. In both cases in our houses, they are, like I mentioned, our campus, right? So it's a separate standalone Ronald McDonald House, and we have 80 bedrooms in our Ronald McDonald houses. In our two family rooms, they are in-hospital facilities, so they're literally inside the hospital. So they are a place where families who have children in the ICU can come and refresh and have day support space, and they also have bedrooms. So in both of those cases, those family rooms at Children's Mercy and at Overland Park Regional Medical Center, they're for families whose children are in the ICU. And it may be that you live in, I don't know, Independence or Prairie Village or Olathe or whatever, and you're like, I'm not leaving this hospital because my child is in intensive care. And so those bedrooms and those services are for those families who really have in many cases, the sickest children in the hospital.
We often talk about when families walk into, in particular our family room spaces and the hospitals, but also our Ronald McDonald Houses. It's like the bottom has dropped out of their life. They're standing on a trap door and all of a sudden they have gone down this parallel path of chemotherapy or life support or needing a transplant. And where a child is sick, there is something deeply unsettling and there's just something deeply human about that.
And so for our families, they are all in a state of crisis when they come to us, and so that's why we scoop them up and we love on them and care for them really when they are going through some of the most important times of their lives. I've mentioned Children's Mercy, it's worth noting that we serve families whose children are being cared for in 15 different healthcare institutions. So maybe at Ability KC getting rehab or at St. Luke's or really throughout the region. KU, we serve a lot of kiddos who are receiving cancer treatment at the University of Kansas Health System. Most of our families are being cared for by Children's Mercy, but literally any family who has a child who's receiving pediatric care, not for a broken leg, not for the flu, not for getting your tonsils out, but for really serious childhood illnesses, that's the families we're there for.
Kelly Scanlon:
You do more than provide a place to sleep, a place to shower. Tell us about some of the other services that you provide for these families.
Tami Greenberg:
Well, I think a way to think about it is, what would you need? What would you need if you had a loved one who was all of a sudden hospitalized in Minneapolis and you'd be there and you'd be without your family, without your village, without your tribe. And it's not just that you need a place to lay your head. It's meals and it's laundry. People often forget about the importance of laundry. You may have ridden on the helicopter. So in terms of when families come to Kansas City, they may have come on a life flight from the car accident in Joplin, and they have literally the clothes on their back. And so they need obviously the love and support and care of Ronald McDonald House and meals and laundry and toothbrushes and the stuff of life so that they can meet their basic needs while they're thinking about their kiddos.
What often happens is that families will come to us and they're not even thinking about where they're going to spend the night. They're not even thinking about where they're going to lay their head, because when your child has been life flighted from Western Kansas, or if you're here for a really complicated procedure and you've flown in from Michigan, these are real examples that I'm describing. You're not thinking about where you as a parent are going to lay your head or what you're going to eat. And then when Ronald McDonald House says, "We are here with a plate of lasagna, we are here with what you need." It's the thing that makes all the difference in the world to families. So just like you said, Kelly, it's a place to stay. It's showers and it's beds, it's also meals and lots of things that families need when they are with us.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tell us about the history. I know that Ronald McDonald houses are global. They came to Kansas City in the early 1980s, but I believe they actually got started in the 70s. So tell us about that and why they're called Ronald McDonald Houses.
Tami Greenberg:
I love this question. Thank you for asking. One of the things that I love about Ronald McDonald Houses is that we are in fact global because I just believe in my core that there is nothing that matters more to any of us, any human being, than the health of our loved ones. And especially if you're a parent, the health of your children, that is a global phenomenon. It transcends culture, language, all of the things. And so there is a Ronald McDonald House in Johannesburg, and there's a Ronald McDonald House in Hunan, China. We are everywhere because when kids are sick, their parents need to be with them. And so we're literally around the world now. We started in Philadelphia and we started in 1974. So you're right that we've been around in Kansas City since 1981, but the charity, the very first Ronald McDonald House started in Philadelphia.
Interestingly, through a partnership with the Eagles. Brace yourself Chiefs fans. We do love Philadelphia Eagles because of our origin story at Ronald McDonald House, but there was an Eagles player whose daughter had leukemia, and they saw all these families fighting cancer and sleeping in the chairs in the waiting room, sleeping on the floor. And so the Philadelphia Eagles partnered with McDonald's to purchase the first Ronald McDonald House. And so it was essentially a sponsorship agreement that the first one was called Ronald McDonald House. And the whole idea came about from an oncologist named Audrey Evans. There's actually a movie coming out soon about Audrey called Audrey's Children because she said, "Here's what these families need. Families need to be together. A sick child is a sick family, and if we can find a place for families to stay together while their children are fighting, in this case, cancer." We've certainly expanded to serving families who have children with a variety of illnesses. But Audrey Evans vision was, if we can keep families together, that will be good, not just for kids, but for families.
Kelly Scanlon:
I'm just trying to do the math in my head. You have what, 300 and some houses across the world?
Tami Greenberg:
That is correct.
Kelly Scanlon:
Yeah. And I know there's haven't always been 300 houses, but you take that over, what, almost 50 years now? Approximately 50 years?
Tami Greenberg:
Yeah. I think the number is like, 2 million families have been served across RMHD Global. I will say, we in Kansas City celebrated our 40th anniversary a couple of years ago, and at that time we did a tally that as of two years ago, we had helped 102,000 families right here in Kansas City. And when I say a 102,000 families, that's families, that's moms and dads and grandpas and grandmas and brothers and sisters. I've met a number of people who say, "Yeah, a lot of my childhood memories are because my brother or sister was sick, and I did a lot of my growing up at Ronald McDonald House." So it's a whole family operation.
Kelly Scanlon:
How many can a house support? You see, family members are welcome. It doesn't just have to be the parent-
Tami Greenberg:
Correct.
Kelly Scanlon:
... but how many can they accommodate? How many family members?
Tami Greenberg:
I would say, tell us about your family. Who needs to be here? There are sometimes if there's a scenario where there's family complications, we might be like, this family needs two rooms because of just what's happening with this family. And we have roll out cuts, and we have ways we can accommodate larger families. We really try very hard, and I think we do a really good job of meeting families where they are. You may have a teenager who is undergoing a serious health crisis. You may have a teeny tiny one pound baby, and so what families need...
Sometimes it's moms who are waiting to deliver, they know that they're going to have a high risk or high medically complicated birth situation. So sometimes it's pregnant mamas who are waiting to deliver and they're hanging out at Ronald McDonald House where they can be close to the hospital for when their baby is born. So yeah, we just have a lot of love and heart and spirit in what we do. We are here for those families who come to us, whatever they need. If they've got a sick child, no matter where they're from and what they need, we do our very best to help them.
Kelly Scanlon:
You talk about women who are waiting to give birth because they're going to have a high risk delivery. They know ahead of time, they can plan, they can be in touch with Ronald McDonald House. But then you also mentioned the folks who, maybe there was a car accident or some other kind of quick emergency that came on a life flight helicopter from another part of the country or another part of the Midwest. How do they know about you? How do you work with those folks to let them know, "Hey, we've got a space for you?"
Tami Greenberg:
Often that comes through our terrific partnerships with the hospitals. Children's Mercy and all the other hospitals we work with. Because those folks on the helicopter, on the life flight, they know that they're bringing this family in from Des Moines or whatever. And so all the healthcare professionals know that this family needs somewhere to stay. They will connect them with us. Sometimes they'll make a reservation on their behalf. It would be impossible for us to count honestly, the number of folks who woke up thinking they were going to have a normal day, and by nighttime they're laying their head at the Ronald McDonald House.
Kelly Scanlon:
So given the unexpectedness of so many of the situations these families are dealing with. And yeah, there's 91 rooms, but there's 91 rooms, it's a lot, but it's also a finite number. What happens or have you ever had a situation where you have to say, "I'm sorry, it's full." If you have, what do you do in those situations?
Tami Greenberg:
Kelly, I love that you asked this. Unfortunately, that happens all the time, in that we don't have enough rooms. So in 2018 and 2019, pre-COVID, pre-pandemic, and both of those years we literally turned away a thousand families.
Kelly Scanlon:
Wow. Each year.
Tami Greenberg:
A thousand times we said, "We don't have room. We don't have room. Not yet. Maybe in a minute, but not yet." A thousand times in 2018, a thousand times in 2019. During the pandemic when we didn't want to fill our houses for all the reasons, we started renting hotel rooms. So we paid for and rented hotel rooms so families could still be close to their kiddos, but not necessarily in a Ronald McDonald house environment. So what we've been doing since COVID has become just more of a daily part of life, we are still doing that. We rent hotel rooms for the families that we serve. And so I will tell you this year we have checked into our houses, about 4,000 families, checked into our houses. And another 500 families we've checked into hotels.
Kelly Scanlon:
You have a garden called the Serenity Garden. Tell us about that.
Tami Greenberg:
One of the things that families tell us when they come to Ronald McDonald House is that expect that this will be a place they can lay their head and get a sandwich, right? It's like, okay, get a razor, get a toothbrush, stuff of life. What often I think surprises them is, and we hear this word a lot, "This is a place I can actually breathe." And people will take deep breaths and they'll say, "This is a place where I feel safe and at peace," unexpectedly because of the thing that whatever the thing is that's happened in their life.
So we have a really beautiful space called the Serenity Garden, and it's got quotes throughout. It's got guiding words, it's got guiding principles. There's one water feature, and the water feature says, "A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence." And I always imagine looking at that if your child's going through their 17th round of chemo or if you're on your 93rd day in the ICU. A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence. So we are really looking for spiritual and psychological and mental wellbeing support, not just filling our family's tummies.
Kelly Scanlon:
Exactly. And then they can go and give the support that their child needs to the child with somewhat of a clear head anyway.
Tami Greenberg:
That's right. And there's been plenty of research done that kids get better faster when their parents are getting what they need. When parents can make good decisions.
Kelly Scanlon:
I'm sure you have to have volunteers that help with all of this. You've mentioned so many different ways that you serve these families. Tell us about some of the ways that our listeners can get involved if they're inclined to.
Tami Greenberg:
And we'd literally cannot do what we do at Ronald McDonald House without the help of volunteers. So to whatever degree our listeners are thinking, oh, I'm so proud that this happens in Kansas City. We together, all of us Kansas City are the ones making this happen. One of the most important things that volunteers do is come and make meals for our families. So I've talked about a plate of lasagna or getting a sandwich. As volunteers that come in and do that, sometimes volunteers will send a meal, so they'll pay for catering. And we actually are very intentional about using diverse and inclusive providers when we do catering and when we bring meals in for our family. So sometimes volunteers will send a meal, so to speak. We presumably all know folks who have gone through a hard time and you sign up for a meal train and they've got a cooler on their porch, and you say, "I'll take the Tuesdays."
These families with us, like I've mentioned, they're from Western Kansas or from Michigan, and all the families who might've brought them a meal, they're somewhere else. And so this is what Kansas City does. Kansas City shows up to bring these families a meal. And it's cooked in our kitchens, we have a space for groups to come. And it could be a corporate group, it could be a faith-based group, it could be a neighborhood group, it could be a group of kids. We all want our kids in the next generation to grow up learning the value of service.
Kelly Scanlon:
Absolutely.
Tami Greenberg:
The meals are cooked right there on site, and then it makes our Ronald McDonald houses or our family rooms smell good and smell like home. And there's just something that's good for the spirit and not just the body when you get fuel and nourishment like that. So that's one of the ways volunteers can help, is by making meals. We also have volunteers who help with outside projects and checking in families. It's also true that we have volunteers who put together kits of things for our families. So maybe it's like grab and go bags of granola bars and raisins and protein packages, or I've mentioned toothpaste a couple of times. If you need toothpaste, you need toothpaste. And so sometimes it's like hygiene kits or toiletries and all the things that families need when they're with us, we provide that and we can only provide those things because the Kansas City community provides it to us.
Kelly Scanlon:
So you need the service work, but then you mentioned the toothbrush and the other toiletries and the food itself. Where does all that come from?
Tami Greenberg:
It has been wild to us since emerging from the pandemic, how quickly we're going through the food and how much we are struggling, quite frankly, with keeping our pantries full and keeping enough meals going for our families because Kelly, we are serving more families than ever. I told you that pre-COVID, we turned away a thousand families a year. That means those families weren't with us. Now, we are serving those families in hotels, which means they come to our place. They come to Ronald McDonald house for meals. So we are feeding and serving more families than ever, and volunteers have taken a little bit longer to come back to us than families did, for example. So yeah, the meals and the food comes from volunteers, comes from donors. We also now are buying food. We never had to do that before, but we are literally spending our organizational money on just literally buying food so we can make sure that there's always something there for our families.
Kelly Scanlon:
Do you have annual events or fundraisers that help you offset the costs of some of these goods and other things that you need to purchase for these families?
Tami Greenberg:
We do. I'll tell you a little bit more about how we are funded in multiple ways. So we do in fact have annual fundraisers. So we have a dinner gala every October called the Spark of Hope gala. We have a Trent Green Golf Classic and Julie Green Pickleball Tournament every June. So folks can come out and play golf or pickleball to benefit the families at Ronald McDonald House. We also are really grateful to be the beneficiary for Red Wednesday or Red Friday. And so when folks buy their Chiefs Kingdom flags around Kansas City, those proceeds come to help us at Ronald McDonald House with our budget.
It is also true that we really depend on individual and corporate donors. And folks who come for a tour or come to make a meal and say, "This is really inspiring. I'd like to continue supporting the work." Folks sometimes have questions about the McDonald's relationship. We talked about how the charity started. McDonald's definitely continues to support us. They are our founding and forever mission partner. It is also true that we cannot survive on the McDonald's donation boxes alone in the McDonald's support. We really need individual and corporate donations to be able to afford to take care of our families all the ways we do.
Your listeners might be curious to hear that it costs us at Ronald McDonald House programmatically. So not counting administrative expenses, not counting infrastructure kinds of costs, but programmatically it costs us about $100 per night per family. So when you think about 91 families every night and that we have checked in well over 4,000 families so far this year, average length of stay of 10 nights, a $100 per night per family. We really do rely on the community to be generous with us. I just always encourage folks to go to gratitude, give from a sense of gratitude and gratefulness.
If you have never needed a Ronald McDonald House, that's such good news for your family. And so give from that place of gratitude and a spirit of help and hope for those families who never expected this, and then we're taking care of them along the way.
Kelly Scanlon:
That's a great point. For our listeners who are interested in following up on some of the opportunities that you just described, is going to the website the best place to go to find more details?
Tami Greenberg:
It is. Website's super easy. It is wwwRMHCKC.org, and that stands for Ronald McDonald House Charities Kansas City. RMHCKC.org. And there's how you can help. And there's more stories about our families. We could have filled this whole time, Kelly, with me talking to you about really precious, sweet family stories. Each one is a universe unto themselves and deeply beloved by their family. And so, one of the things that's nice about our website is go on there and read about some families that we've served. Sometimes you might even be surprised to find that it's somebody that you know.
So there's something pretty inspiring about the whole thing. Certainly, it makes it real. We are all about families and community and being right there with folks when they need it most.
Kelly Scanlon:
Tami, it is remarkable what you and your colleagues and your core volunteers and your donors do for the families of Kansas City, and the Midwest. Thank you so much for all of that work. And we really appreciate you being here today to share your stories with us and to let us know how we can get involved and be a part of that work as well.
Tami Greenberg:
Thank you for that. Thanks, Kelly. And I think that whenever you think about Ronald McDonald House, I think it sort of fills your heart a little bit. So I hope that your listeners will go home and hug their kids and grandkids and to think about the things they're grateful for in life. And then remember us at Ronald McDonald House Charities in whatever ways folks can help.
Joe Close:
This is Joe Close, president of Country Club Bank. Thank you to Tami Greenberg for being our guest on this episode of Banking on KC. More than 300 Ronald McDonald Houses operate around the globe. Kansas City is fortunate to have three houses with 91 beds that serve families throughout the Midwest. Far from being simply a comfortable place for family members to rest their heads, Ronald McDonald House Charities, cooks meals, provides toiletries and other essential items, and offers comfort to families. Volunteers are core to the delivery of many of those services.
As Tami said, together, all of us in Kansas City are the ones making this happen. Through your financial support and hands-on volunteer efforts, Kansas Citians make a difference every day. Country Club Bank is proud to serve a community that reinvests in itself by helping some of our most vulnerable members. Thank you for all you do, and thanks for tuning in this week. We're banking on you, Kansas City. Country Club Bank, member FDIC.