Ronald McDonald’s House

My idea of going out for a drive isn’t speeding aimlessly down a highway but cruising past big beautiful houses. I admire them and dream of living in one someday.

Ronald McDonald has a giant house in DC. It’s got a game room in the basement, a living area with a tv on every floor (I think it’s about three stories tall), a kitchen with both an electric and a gas stove, and an elevator! You don’t have to be rich to live there, just be from out of town and have a sick kid in an area hospital.

I know this because I was there some weekends ago, thinking I was going to help clean up a needy family’s yard. But when I arrived and realized this house,already spick and span, was the assignment, I was disappointed. The weird thing about volunteering is you want to do as many chores as you possibly can, when in your own home you’d avoid them like you would worms frying on a sidewalk on a sunny day.

There were so many volunteers that day that the entire job was done in 45 minutes when we’d all alloted 3 hours for it. Still, the house with comfy couches, pillows all in order, colourful building blocks in their rightful boxes, giant soft toys with big smiles on their faces, all looked so sad.

Maybe it’s because on most days, the building and all its luxuries can barely bring any comfort to the parents who sit around sickly, waiting on news about their ill children. It’s one house I’d never want to live in.