'Families are in critical need': Ronald McDonald Houses seek gift cards during coronavirus upheaval

Away from home, Jenny Dias Da Costa finds comfort in this kitchen.

There are small victories every time her son's appetite perks up, and he craves cheese pizza or peanut butter waffles.

During his cancer treatment, the routine of breakfast, lunch and dinner restores some semblance of normalcy while the Elmhurst mom and her 5-year-old are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Winfield.

But they're separated from their loved ones and now another support system: Volunteers who lovingly prepared meals that fortified her and her son, Maxime.

The coronavirus pandemic and the state's stay-at-home order has forced Ronald McDonald House Charities to turn away volunteers who provided the comforts of home for five houses in the region - all near hospitals so families can remain close to a sick child.

Families who would otherwise be eating out of hospital vending machines still need nourishment. So Ronald McDonald Houses are asking for people to give donations or send gift cards through the mail for restaurants that will cater meals.

Easy access to nutritious foods helps Dias Da Costa take care of herself even as her whole world revolves around her son's cancer.

"You don't think about what you're going to eat," she said. "That's like the last thing on your mind."

Doesn't take a break

The kitchen is the heart of the home, and that's also true of Ronald McDonald Houses because of volunteers, said Lisa Mitchell, vice president of the group's Chicagoland & Northwest Indiana chapter.

"Our houses are built on community, so declining the volunteer services during this time has been very hard for us on all fronts, in particular around the meals where a vast majority of our volunteers invest their time," she said.

A core group of about 1,700 volunteers has stepped back from regular shifts helping operate the five houses. Drop-off donations of toys and blankets also have been suspended, though there is an existing inventory.

"Staff is cooking with pantry supplies whenever we can, but we're also functioning at a reduced staff coverage just because we also are trying to limit the community of the house," Mitchell said.

So Ronald McDonald Houses have started a gift card drive to have restaurants fill in the gap with individually packaged meals.

"Our families are under great stress always," Mitchell said. "That's what Ronald McDonald Houses are there to help offset, which is the stress of childhood illness, and it just doesn't take a break due to this crisis."

The houses typically support 162 families every night. While the charity asks those who can to donate $10 a night, there is no obligation to pay.

The head count - at around 90 families last week - has decreased as hospitals postpone planned procedures and focus on urgent cases.

"Those families are in critical need. If there is any option for them to not have their kid in the hospital at this point, that would certainly be the case," Mitchell said. "We just really need to be there for these families."

A 'silver lining'

Dias Da Costa and her son have been staying in the two-story, Craftsman-style house across the street from Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital since February.

It's only 15 minutes away from the proton therapy center in Warrenville where Maxime receives a form of radiation treatment for recurrent medulloblastoma, a central nervous system cancer that came back last November.

He was first diagnosed in September 2018 when he was just 3½ years old. Balance issues led to an emergency MRI that revealed a tumor the size of a small orange against the brain stem.

"When he's in active treatment, Ronald McDonald House has been really sort of a silver lining for him," his mom said.

The practice of social distancing to slow the virus' spread has magnified the isolation already felt by families with sick children. But the house still serves as a home base between Maxime's radiation sessions five days a week.

"It was nice for him to be around other kids that looked like him. Kids walking around with emesis bags," his mom said. "Kids that would barely eat or kids that were constantly only eating ramen if they ate anything. Kids that were tired or got fatigued easily. There's just a different level of sensitivity in this space among the people here than there is in that outside world."

How to help

1. Online donations:

Rmhccni.org/donate/covid-19-donations/2. Restaurant gift cards can be mailed directly to the following sites:• Ronald McDonald House near Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital (0N150 Winfield Road, Winfield, IL 60190)• Ronald McDonald House near Advocate Children Hospital (4410 W. 93rd Street, Oak Lawn, IL 60453)• Ronald McDonald House near Loyola University Medical Center (1 Airmail Road, Hines, IL 60141)• Ronald McDonald House near Lurie Children’s (211 E. Grand Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611)• Ronald McDonald House near UChicago Medicine (Comer Children’s Hospital (5444 S. Drexel Avenue, Chicago, IL 60615)