RMH

Every Thursday morning, Dara Greene and her two young sons stop at McDonald’s for a chocolate chip cookie.

Thursday is the day Dara volunteers at the Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) Toronto Family Room at Markham Stouffville Hospital and she wants Jack and Sam to connect good feelings with her work. They get this treat before she drops them off at daycare.  

“It feels wonderful and surreal to be a volunteer in the Family Room,” says Dara. “Wonderful because I feel so fortunate that I am able to give back in this way, and surreal because I have moments that connect me so closely back to the experiences I had when my own children were born and in the NICU.”

She is one of 162 RMHC Toronto Family Room volunteers we're celebrating during Volunteer Appreciation Week. Dara is unique because she used the Family Room at Markham Stouffville Hospital after her now 21-month-old son Sam was born prematurely in 2013. 

Dara started volunteering there in 2014 to give back, and has already contributed close to 70 hours. “I want my experiences as a parent using the Family Room to translate into being an understanding and compassionate volunteer,” she says.

RMHC Toronto currently has Family Rooms at SickKids, The Credit Valley Hospital of the Trillium Health Partners and Markham Stouffville Hospital and will be expanding to the Rouge Valley Health System later in 2015. 

Dara welcomes the growth.

“Every family with babies and children in the hospital deserves to have all of the comfort and support a Family Room can provide,” she says.

“I know what it's like to have a child in a hospital that doesn't have a Family Room and I can tell you that it really does make a huge difference. Ronald McDonald Family Rooms encourage family togetherness and community support. What a great way to build and shape a community into a wonderful place to live.”

Pictured above: Dara, with Sam, 21 months, Jack, 3, and husband, Andrew