W&H Show asking for your help this Christmas for Lubbock’s Ronald McDonald House

Good morning West Texans and all you good, fine, friendly folks out there who wish you were . . .

We Need Your Help

First let me say thank you in advance for what I know you’re going to do today and next week. I can say that because I’ve witnessed the generosity that our audience has for the past several years with our annual Christmas charity programs. This year will be no different I’m sure.

I realize that times are tougher this December on the South Plains than maybe since the depression. I know that many families and businesses are fighting hard just to take care of the basics right now. I also know that when the folks in West Texas know they can make a difference, they will.

Today You Can Make a Difference

This year The Williams and Hyatt Show is partnering with Kidspace to help ensure that the families staying at Lubbock’s Ronald McDonald House next to UMC have a Christmas that won’t be just about sick and hurting family memebers, displaced kids and the worry and stress that having a child in the hospital creates, not just at Christmas but anytime.

This year we are asking our audience and friends to help us provide the families at the Ronald McDonald House with popcorn tins, disposable cameras and photo albums. At any given time there may be up to 17 families staying at the Ronald McDonald House for just a few days or several months. This year we want to help them create some better memories while they’re there but we need your help to do it.

The people at Ronald McDonald House provide a service for families that you can’t begin to imagine until you find yourself in those families shoes. For many of the families they’re not staying at the hospital from just down the block. They’re from miles and miles and hours and hours away. Separated from friends and families, away from home and all the while worrying about their child.

I know what that’s like.

My wife and I were lucky when our son was born. He spent his first week in N.I.C.U. with the wonderful doctors and nurses at UMC. We knew he would be out soon and he would be fine but it is still one of the most trying weeks in my life. I wish it upon no one. While we were there though we were blessed to get to know many other parents that exhibited the strength and courage of dealing with life-threatening situations for their own children. Many of those parents had been there for weeks and many would stay weeks longer. Many of them didn’t have the luxury like us of knowing for sure they’d be taking a healthy child home. Those memories will stay with me all my days.

Many of those parents and children benefited from the safe haven that Lubbock’s Ronald McDonald House serves as. This year, I feel the least we can do is try and help some of Lubbock’s best make life a little easier for some folks that would appreciate even the smallest of Christmas cheer!

So please, if you can, pick up some of the items we’re looking for today or next week and drop them off at our collection point. We’re taking in all donations today til five at Kidspace at 6028 82nd St and then again all next week.

You don’t have to stop with just the popcorn tins, disposable cameras and photo albums. The Ronald McDonald House has many other needs as well. Here’s just a sampling:

Kitchen Items – Paper plates, Trash bags (8, 13, and 55 gallon), Plastic forks, Plastic Spoons, chip clips (various sizes), and Weiman cook top stove cleaner.
Cleaning Items – Clorox Disinfectant Wipes, Lysol Disinfectant Spray, hand sanitizer, Spray Air Freshener, Furniture Polish, Pine Sol, all purpose cleaner
For Our Guests – Movie, Dinner or Retail Store Gift Certificates, and Calling Cards. We are also going to begin scrapbooking with our families and would appreciate any scrapbook materials to get our families started.
Miscellaneous – Powdered and liquid HE (high efficiency) Laundry Detergent, Bleach, Dryer Sheets, washable pillow protectors, and white wash cloths.
Office Needs – 8.5 x 11 Copy Paper (White or brightly colored), Postage Stamps, Scissors, Masking Tape, Black Sharpies, yellow highlighters, AAA batteries, Laminating Paper, and Post-It Notes
Snacks – We are in desperate need of individual packaged snacks such as granola bars, cheese and crackers, peanut butter crackers, cookies, fruit roll ups, peanuts, Easy Mac individual servings, beef jerkey, etc. We use these snacks in our House and all Family Rooms!
We also need frozen cookie dough in plastic tubs or in individual packages (buttons). We love to have fresh cookies baking at the House and Family Rooms. Nothing says “home” like the smell of oven-baked cookies! Our families love them!