My daughter and son-in-law, Melissa and Mike Stockton, live in Silver Lake, Oregon, and at the beginning of 2007 my daughter was very pregnant with my first grandchild. Toward the end of her pregnancy, Melissa began having difficulty and her doctor decided that she did not want my daughter so far from the hospital. Silver Lake is a 1½ to 2 hour drive from Bend, and winter conditions can sometimes make that trip even longer, and dangerous, too. So we were all very grateful that a room was available for them in Bend at Ronald McDonald House. When I got to Bend, I stayed in a hotel for a few nights, but the cost of that was way more than what I could afford. I thought I was going to have to come home without being there for my daughter, and without the opportunity to meet my grandson. Needless to say, I was heartbroken. Then the staff at Ronald McDonald House told us that it would be perfectly all right for me to stay there with the kids, and again needless to say, I was overjoyed! Melissa finally went into labor on March 9th and it turned out to be just as difficult as the end of the pregnancy had been. Finally at 3:40am on March 10th, 2007, a C-section was performed and baby Mikey joined his family to our profound joy and gratitude!

 And it is with that same joy and gratitude that I say a big, fat, "Thank you!" to Ronald McDonald House for making it possible for me to be there. Without you, I would have had to come back home to Arizona and worry and wait and worry and wait and then be heartbroken that I wasn’t there to meet my grandson when he came into the world. And without you I wouldn’t have been able to be there for my daughter at a time in her life that that it was extremely important, to both of us, for me to support her.

Thank you so much. I am incredibly grateful that you exist!