Teaching Our Boys about #RaiseLove

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Like all parents, our most important goal is to make sure the boys are healthy and have everything they need to spread their wings one day and be successful in life. We have been fortunate to have good health for our boys, but we know many families face health challenges with their children along the way.

One amazing charity that helps out families with sick children is Ronald McDonald House Charities. They help ease some of the physical and financial burdens parents face during some of life’s hardest times. In 2016 they provided over 2.4 million overnight stays for families to be near their sick children in a time of need. And they have local chapters in over 64 countries around the world.

There are a few Ronald McDonald Houses and Ronald McDonald Family Rooms right here in St. Louis. One is on Mercy’s campus where both our boys were born. BTR’s mom works at Mercy and on many Sunday evenings, she volunteers to make family meals for the families staying at the Ronald McDonald House. I hope when the boys are older and able to help cooking we can join her to get hands on with such a great organization.

Since right now since they are more of a mess in the kitchen than a help, so I doubt they would want us to help! BTR and I have been talking and we think Jude is old enough to understand some of the ideas of charity and philanthropy and think it is time to get him involved and teach him about #RaiseLove.

As you know not only are the boys addicted to toys but maybe I am addicted to buying them as well? :) We decided to do a little purging to raise money for RMHC. We gathered a bunch of the boy’s old clothes and toys that don’t fit and don’t get played with anymore. We talked to Jude about how we can raise money to help other kids by selling some of our toys. He quickly caught on and said “we can help kids?” and got really excited! Which of course got me excited and #proudparent status.

Unfortunately, a garage sale is not in the plans right now, so we decided to sell our things in online buy/sell sites and the rest to second-hand kids stores in our area. Then we can take that money and donate it to RMHC.

I encourage you to do the same if you need to clear out some space as summer clothes and toys go away, and the winter clothes come out. Clear some room for Christmas presents in the toy room and give back to a wonderful cause.

And here are some other ways you could raise money for RMHC:

-Host a bake sale
-Have a lemonade stand
-If you’re a runner (#notme) have friends donate for every mile you run!
-Juggle some balls and have friends donate every time you catch a ball – also the reason we decided on a garage sale, I can’t juggle :)

We hope the idea of giving back with our time and money is passed down to our kids and they help others in need. We know there are a lot of great and deserving charities out there. Please consider giving to Ronald McDonald House Charities as they try to reach their goal of giving 12,500 more overnight stays to families of sick children this year.