Family members are enjoying brighter, more welcoming and comfortable living room furniture, thanks to a $4,000 grant from the PS Foundation. Sally Vincent, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House, thanks Mary Beaver Schoetz, a UPS associate who volunteers at the House.

Rico Francani, McDonald’s Licensee of Derico of East Amherst Corporation, left, and Matt Foss, General Manager, right, along with McDonald’s crew members, organized the first Ronald McDonald House Holiday Concert, raising $25,000. Sally Vincent, Executive Director of the House, and Ronald McDonald accepted the check.

B.J. Thomas sang his hits along with popular songs of the season at the first Ronald McDonald House Holiday Concert in December. The event raised $25,000. We extend our sincere appreciation to the B.J. Thomas concert sponsors, program advertisers, and donors of services who made this event possible.

Please support these sponsors because they support us!

The Musgroves have stayed at the Ronald McDonald House
in Buffalo for months at a time, and know they will have
to come back.

Their daughter Alissa, who will be six in November,
was born with a serious birth defect called an esophageal
atresia that affects the digestive system. The family lives in
the Adirondack region of New York State, and the baby was
initially treated in nearby Vermont. In 2005, when doctors
there had done as much as they could, they referred the family
to specialists at Women and Children’s Hospital in Buffalo for
surgery.

Alissa was expected to be in the hospital for three weeks,
but she developed lung problems and ended up staying three
months. Her parents are grateful for the Ronald McDonald
House.

“In a way, it’s sort of like a home away from home,” said
Mike, Alissa’s father. “You have all the necessities of home.”

After being at the hospital for as much as 23 hours at a time,
the house “was a nice quiet place where you can rest, eat, relax
by watching TV or do laundry. The volunteers there were
always polite and considerate and asked if there was anything
they could do to help.”

Sharon also liked having other families there to talk to.
“There were so many people with so many different problems,
but we were all the same,” she said. “It was better than a
lonely motel room.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to pay for lodging at another
place,” Mike noted. He calculated that even with a discount, it
would cost them $3,000 a month to stay in a hotel.

“I wouldn’t have been able to come up with that kind of
money,” he said. “With me being on disability, there’s no way
because I have to pay bills at home also.”

The Musgroves were back in Buffalo in April of this year
when Alissa was scheduled for another surgery. Unfortunately,
during surgery the doctors realized that the problem was
worse than they thought. Alissa was hospitalized until August,
and there were several times it looked like she wasn’t going to
make it.

“Ellen (the house manager) was there for us and willing
to do anything for us,” Sharon said. “She sat down and talked
with us and asked if we needed any counseling. The Ronald
McDonald House is a very comforting place to go. They offer
a lot of support.”

Alissa’s medical problems mean she can’t eat, she has to deal
with feeding tubes and drainage tubes, and she has been
hospitalized for months at a time. Her parents are thankful
that the Ronald McDonald House has supported them through
their long ordeal, and know they can count on it again when
Alissa faces yet another surgery in about a year.
Alissa is home now and still dealing with lung complications,
but she’s defi nitely improved. In about a year and a half,
she will come to Buffalo again for a surgery that the family
hopes will fi x her problems.

“We’ve been hoping that for years,” Sharon said. “We’re
hoping this time it will work.”

Sharon has this message for the supporters of the Ronald
McDonald House:

“I just want to say thank you. We’re really, really grateful.
I honestly don’t know what we would have done without the
Ronald McDonald House—We would have been stuck sleeping
at the hospital. Staying at the Ronald McDonald House
was just like a miracle for us.”

Donna is the wife of John Reilly, the basketball coach at Gannon University in Erie, Pa. On Friday the 13th in April, they received a call that one of the players had been admitted to the hospital for stroke symptoms. It was especially shocking because Aurimas Truskauskas, 22, was so healthy and able— He had set basketball records while maintaining a 3.92 GPA in international business.

Aurimas was transferred to Buffalo to be treated at Millard Fillmore Gates Circle Hospital. Since he is from Lithuania and his family still lives there, the Reillys traveled to Buffalo with him. Gannon University made arrangements for the Reillys to stay at the Ronald McDonald House.

“What a gift we received!” Donna said. “It was as if we were at Nana’s house. Ellen (the house manager) welcomed us with open arms. What did we need? What could she do? Are we hungry? Did we need directions?

“I immediately felt calm for the first time in days. At a time when life was so full of unknowns, the Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo provided us with constant support, warmth and shelter.”

Donna was introduced to the volunteers and staff.

“It was clear that we were in good hands,” she said.

Soon Aurimas’s mother, Laimute, and brother, Aidas, arrived from Lithuania. Following an emotional reunion with Aurimas, they thankfully checked into the Ronald McDonald House. Now they were just a few blocks from the hospital and were given the support that Donna was receiving.

“It felt good,” Laimute said, with Aurimas acting as translator. “I did not expect the care; I did not expect them to feed us. The people were friendly. It helped out tremendously.”

“I feel good that they were able to be taken care of that way,” Aurimas added. “They were foreign. They had to find shelter somewhere, and they found it at Ronald McDonald House.”

A week after their arrival, Aurimas had surgery. He recovered enough to make it to his graduation. He is now continuing his recovery in Pennsylvania.

Donna wrote a thank you note that goes not only to our staff and volunteers, but to our donors as well:

“On behalf of the Truskauskas Family from Lithuania, a heartfelt thank you for easing the journey we have all been on,” Donna said. “We could not have done it without your help and support. We were safe, sheltered, well fed and supported. Make no mistake, Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo was truly our home away from home. Continue to pursue this vital mission. Keep up the tremendous work!”

Welcome to our new web site! We have undertaken a complete redesign of our web site! While it is still under construction, we will be bringing even more content and updates in the coming days!

Check back soon for more exciting content like:

1. Cooks for Kids updates!
2. Family stories!
3. The Ronald McDonald House Newsletter! (AVAILABLE SOON ONLINE!)
4. Many more!