Last night, the Austin Chamber of Commerce  presented Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin and Central Texas with a 2010 Greater Austin Business Award in the nonprofit category for Environment. It’s the first time we’ve been recognized with this honor.

Every August, the Austin Chamber of Commerce presents the Business Awards to businesses and nonprofits in the categories of Innovation, Customer Service, Community Relations, Environment, Education, and Take on Traffic. 

Here’s a list of all of this year’s nonprofit winners:

    * Environment: Ronald McDonald House Charities of Austin & Central Texas
    * Innovation: Meals on Wheels and More
    * Customer Service: Capital Area Food Bank
    * Community Relations: The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center
    * Education: College Forward
    * Take on Traffic: Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization

And a big thank you to the Chamber and a congratulations to all the 2010 winners and finalists! (See the full list in the Austin Business Journal).

Read more about the environmental design and the energy initiatives which positioned us to win this award.

Derrick Lesnau, Director of Programs; Kent Burress, CEO; Ann Jerome, Chief Development Officer; holding the award.

We’re experimenting with another virtual resource for the RMHC Day of Change. That is, we are testing Twitter as a method to pitch the RMHC Day of Change story to traditional media. Twitter has emerged as a preferred communication channel for traditional media over the last couple of years both as a way to receive and report news. In an attempt to engage the media at a National level we have invited them to a scheduled Tweet Chat session, moderated by RMHC Global, on August 18 at 10:00 CST.  

You might be asking what is Tweet Chat? Tweet Chat is a third party application of Twitter and is reminiscent of the chat rooms from the early days of the Internet. You enter the room through your Twitter account and then read and respond to a live chat session focused on a particular topic. In this case, the RMHC Day of Change. RMHC has participated in a couple before, and they have proven to be a great way to engage supporters, tell our story, and provide ways to get involved to those following the conversation.

We are extending the invitation for you and your local media contacts to participate on August 18 at 10:00 CST. It’s an easy (and fun) way to spread the word about Ronald McDonald House Charities as a whole and in particular the RMHC Day of Change.

If you would like to participate click on http://tweetchat.com/room/rmhc and sign in with your Twitter account. Click the ‘Allow’ button when it appears on your screen, and then refresh the speed to 5 seconds. (It will automatically be set to 10 seconds and with the rapidity of the conversation, you might lose information if you don’t refresh the speed.) Use the hashtag #RMHC.

Looking forward to tweeting with you then! And as always, if you have any questions about this activity or the RMHC Day of Change, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Jan Gunter at jgunter@rmhc-austin.org or #RMHCAustin on Twitter.

Curious about the relationship between McDonald's and Ronald McDonald House Charities?

Filmmaking for the Cause

Ron Pippin, of Shiny Object, is shown filming our really creative, fun new video telling the story of a typical family who visits the Ronald McDonald House. What's unique about this family is they are finger people!  The Digit Family is having a fun summer when little Lucy ends up in the hospital and the family finds themselves staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Austin. 

Here's the photo from the Austin American-Statesman showing Ron and his crew hard at work. They filmed in the Ronald McDonald House Community Room from 9 am to 2 am - yes, all day and into the night!! We are so thankful for their dedication along with Laura Williams of Momentum PR in this ambitious project with us! We were looking to make a very creative video, and folks, this one is it. The finished product will be out by early September.

View our photos on Facebook of the Digit Family being filmed at the Ronald McDonald House. Filming underway today from 9 am to 9 pm with Ron Pippin of Shiny Object and his very talented team!

We are having so much fun today with this film crew. We were looking for a company to produce a very creative video for us, and we found them! Ron and his crew created a miniature version of Austin's Ronald McDonald House and are telling the story of the Digit Family (actually fingers) who find themselves at the House when little Lucy ends up in the hospital.

They sleep in comfortable beds in the House and eat good meals literally just steps away from Lucy's hospital room.  We tell this story all the time, but we've never told it quite like this. I think you're going to like the finished product, and we can't wait to share it with you!

See some of the Shiny Object videos on their website, and you'll see what I mean!

New film to show hands behind the scenes at Austin’s Ronald McDonald House

A team of 10 Austin-based artists are lending their hands to the Ronald McDonald House on Wed., July 21 for a full-day video shoot to tell the story of a typical family who finds a home away from home at “the House.” 

The short film, due out September 2010, will be shown to communities in dozens of counties throughout Central Texas to explain the House’s important role for families with children getting treatment at Austin-area hospitals.

 What’s so special about this cinematic family of four? It’s all in their hands.

Ron Pippin, principal and creative director at Shiny Object, and his team went no farther than the end of their arms to find the right cast of characters to play the roles of a mother, father, son and daughter who find themselves at the Ronald McDonald House when one of their children is hospitalized.

The Shiny Object team of artists created a small-scale Ronald McDonald House and will introduce the finger family in a series of scenes depicting home, hospital and of course, the House.

Read the press release from Momentum PR.

If you're a donor or volunteer, you probably received our Open Doors, Open Hearts card in the mail this week.  For 25 years this House has been opening our doors to families of hospitalized children. 

Almost every week we hear something like this from a family:  "I don't know how we could have done it without you."  Often these words are said through tears.

What we provide is very simple.  We provide access.  When a child is in the hospital, parents want to be nearby, but home may be far away. They need access to their child, to the doctors, to the critical medical care their child needs.

We are near the hospital, and we offer the family a room with a comfortable bed.  Our volunteers offer meals twice a day.  We have a laundry room and play areas.  We provide a space for the families to stay and live near their hospitalized child.  That's why they wonder how they could have done it without us. 

We can't do it without you, either.  We depend on your support.  Please give generously so that we can continue to open doors to thousands more families this year and in the years to come.

Read some of our family stories.

Thank you!

Welcome to our new website! We're happy to launch the new RMHC Austin website with a whole new look! You will find this site easy to navigate, visually interesting and full of updated content.

Read about our new 25th Anniversary Wishing Wall.  Check out our family stories page.  Read the history of the Austin Ronald McDonald House.  Explore the many ways you can get involved at RMHC Austin.  Browse the entire site and let us know how you like the new website!

We will launch our new blog soon, featuring posts from a variety of staff members including CEO, Kent Burress and several other staff members.

In the meantime, keep up on all that is happening by connecting with us on Facebook or Twitter and by registering so you can receive our enews and other updates.  Even if you already receive our enews, please register so that we can update your information.  The option to register on the site is a new feature we are launching, so please take advantage of it and keep in touch!

See you around!

Jan Gunter
Communications Manager