Toys, supplies, and funds help bring happiness to children staying at the House.
Salem, VA (May 1, 2018) - Doctors and staff at LewisGale Physicians in Salem are making the lives of some very special guests at Roanoke’s Ronald McDonald House a little brighter this week with their donation of toys, snacks, supplies, and funds.
“For the past several weeks, the LewisGale Physicians team has been collecting donations from our physicians and staff to benefit children staying at the Ronald McDonald House,” explains Michelle Peery, director of operations at LewisGale Physicians. “As part of a team-building activity, we wanted to work together to benefit a local organization and everyone agreed Roanoke’s Ronald McDonald House was a natural fit.”
To date, LewisGale Physicians has raised close to $10,000 for the local non-profit. Part of the funds went toward the purchase of toys and snacks to stock the House’s new “Magic Room” used by children staying at the House, with the remaining funds earmarked for supplies and the House’s daily operations.
“The Magic Room is where children go to select a toy that is theirs to keep both while they’re at the Ronald McDonald House and when they return home,” explains Anna Semonco, executive director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Virginia. “The toys help relieve children’s fear and anxiety during what is understandably a stressful time, and help bring them happiness during their stay here. We can’t thank LewisGale Physicians enough for their generous donation of both time and money, and for their ongoing commitment to helping children and a local non-profit organization.”
As part of their team-building activity, the LewisGale Physicians staff spent an afternoon as four teams waging friendly competition against one another. Each team was given the base to one of four pull-behind children’s wagons. As a team successfully completed a challenge, they were given another wagon part – such as wheels, sides or a handle. The teams assembled their wagons, and then filled each wagon with the goodies destined for the Ronald McDonald House children. The wagons and gifts will be presented to Ronald McDonald House staff in a ceremony there May 2.