2020 is a year of telling stories. In this space we share good news in response to Jesus’s word to his followers in Matthew 11, “Tell them what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them.”
You have seen it. The Ronald McDonald House Charities(RMH) collection box at the cash counter or drive through at your local McDonalds. You may have wondered what a few pennies deposited in Thief River Falls could do. You may have tossed a few coins into the collection and driven off without another thought.
Imagine your child fighting for their life hundreds of miles from home with no family or friends in the community to rely on. What would you do, where would you stay? If you figure $75 per night for a hotel room which is half of the current average rate in the US, a five night hospital stay would cost $375. I know a family who spent over a year's total time out of four and a half years, twice for 5+ months each and several shorter stays at a RMH. Had this family had to rely on hotel stays, the total cost may have been more than $27,375.
Founded in 1974, Ronald McDonald House Charities provides families a clean, safe, private, economical, comfortable, friendly, and caring place to be while their children’s health is at its most fragile. Families are provided an evening meal and community with others in similar situations.
RMH is not faith based. It is not associated with any religious organization yet God has blessed many through its work. Our impulse is sometimes to place organizations into two camps and pass judgement on them: Christian= good. Non-Christian (secular)= bad. There is often an assumption that we cannot support groups outside the church. When families utilize a service like the RMH, their burden is lifted and they are able to walk a bit taller and more confidently. Jesus asks us to testify about how God is working in our lives and in the lives of our neighbors. How have you been blessed by something alongside what you would normally consider your life of faith and the church?
RMH encourages the collection of pop tabs for recycling. I keep a vase in my kitchen that I fill with them. It reminds me to pray for those who are suffering and in need of the ministry of RMH. It brings to mind friends who have walked through dark times with their children and have been blessed by the work of RMH. It helps me remember that the work of God is everywhere as God teaches us to seek and be found.
May the blessings of God and Christ Jesus be yours!
Pastor Kristin Ostercamp
