Meals that Mend

After long (and often, difficult) days at the hospital, families are thankful for a safe space to land, where they know there is a healthy, nutritious meal awaiting them every night at 6 p.m.

“The provided meals were wonderful and really helped take some of the stress off  while our son was in the hospital.” – Catherine

Together, families, co-workers, and friends provide comforting meals for families staying at the Ronald McDonald HouseⓇ. Meal opportunities include dinner and Sunday brunch on a one-time or recurring basis.

Five Ways You Can Help

ON-SITE Meal Preparation 

  • Make brunch or dinner in our kitchen
  • Arrive as early as 1:30PM to begin your dinner preparations. Dinner must be ready to serve at 6:00PM.
  • Brunch preparation can begin as early as 9am. Dinner brunch must be ready to serve at 10:30AM.

CATER a Meal 

  • Order from a local restaurant and schedule delivery by 5:30PM
  • Meal is ready to serve

DROP OFF a Meal

  • Pick up the meal from a Commercial Kitchen or Restaurant
  • Drop the meal off at our House no later than 4:00PM for our volunteers to finish preparations

ADOPT a Meal

  • You donate the funds and we take care of the rest
  • To donate by credit card, copy and paste the following link to your browser in order to submit your donation: https://rmhcsoutherncolorado.org/donation-page

FREEZER EDITION

  • Make a meal to be frozen for use at a later date
  • These meals are used when we do not have a meal provider

Things to Know

  • All Food Safety Standards set by the Ronald McDonald House Charities and El Paso County Health Department must be followed. All food served to our families must be prepared on site or in a licensed retail food kitchen. We Cannot Accept Any Homemade Foods.
  • You cover all meal expenses
  • Groups are limited to eight (8) people, ages 10 and up
    • Anyone under 18 must be supervised by an adult at all times.
    • We require ONE (1) Point of Contact for the group.
  • Please wash all dishes and sanitize all surfaces used in preparation of your meal
  • Brunch providers should plan to stay until about 12:30PM to serve and clean up after brunch

Your Menu

  • Please plan your dinner for about 40 guests for dinner (estimated headcount will be provided 5 days prior) and 20 guests for Sunday brunch.
  • Please avoid spicy dishes to support our breastfeeding moms. Spicy ingredients may be provided on the side.
  • Your meal MUST INCLUDE a Protein, Vegetable, and a Starch – Salad is not considered a vegetable.
  • Salad, drinks, and desserts are Optional
  • NO ALCOHOL is allowed for cooking nor for consumption
  • Meals that can be reheated work best
  • To ensure your first menu choice is approved, please consider menus one week prior and one week after your date in order to avoid duplicating meals.

Ready to Provide a Meal? Click on the spoon!

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. When do meals have to be ready to serve? Dinner must be ready to serve at 6:00PM; Brunch must be ready to serve at 10:30AM
  2. Do I/we need to complete a Volunteer Application or go through training to provide brunch or dinner? No
  3. Can I/we stay to serve the families and meet them? Yes! Our families love to meet our meal providers. You can also stay to help with clean up at 7:30PM. Brunch providers should stay to serve and clean up after brunch. Brunch is served from 10:30AM-12:00PM
  4. Do I/we need to bring small appliances or baking pans? Our kitchen is fully stocked. We have 4 ovens, 2 cooktops, 5 slow cookers, cookware, baking pans, 1 food processor, 1 Kitchen Aid mixer, and a propane grill for your use. Please ask if there is something specific you’d like to know if we have available.
  5. Do I/we need to provide paper goods and serving utensils? No. We provide plates, utensils, napkins, drinking glasses, and all serving utensils.
  6. Does RMH provide any basic ingredients? We typically have flour, condiments, spices, etc. for use. Please let us know if you’d like us to check for specific ingredients you can use.
  7. Can my kids volunteer with me? The minimum age to volunteer with us is 10. Anyone under 18 years of age must be supervised at all times.

Contact Lourdes Stern at lourdes@rmhcsoutherncolorado.org or at 719-471-1814 for more information.